Multi-access edge computing (MEC) based multi-operator support for C-V2X systems

ABSTRACT

A computing device includes communications circuitry to communicate with a first access network and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is to perform operations to transmit an authorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to a V2X application function within a service coordinating entity, the request transmitted from the device via the first access network V2X configuration parameters are received from the service coordinating entity, via the first access network. The V2X configuration parameters are received in response to the authorization request and based on V2X subscription information received by the V2X application function via a V2X application programming interface (API) within the service coordinating entity. A V2X communication link for the V2X communication is established with a second device based on the V2X configuration parameters, the second device associated with a second access network.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/649,061, filed Mar. 19, 2020, which is a U.S. National Stage FilingUnder 35 U.S.C. 371 from International Application No.PCT/US2018/062481, filed on Nov. 26, 2018, which claims the benefit ofpriority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/591,058, filed Nov.27, 2017,” each of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to multi-access edgecomputing (MEC) and related wireless communication systems. Morespecifically, aspects of the disclosure relate to MEC basedmulti-operator support for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X)communication systems.

BACKGROUND

MEC encompasses architectures that enable cloud computing functionalityor information technology (IT) services at network (e.g., cellularnetwork) edges. MEC may reduce network congestion by movingapplications, data, discovery, etc. closer to the user (e.g., mobiledevice, user equipment (UE), station (STA), etc.). Some MEC detailsdealing with security (e.g., both user security as well as applicationintegrity), radio use, etc., have been promulgated by EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), such as described in the“Mobile Edge Computing Introductory Technical White Paper,” publishedSep. 1, 2014. A set of specifications and white papers providing furtherdetails and implementation use cases for MEC scenarios is beingdeveloped and published on an ongoing basis by ETSI as part of the ETSIMEC industry specification group (ISG).

MEC is intended to support developing mobile use cases of edgecomputing, to allow application developers and content providers toaccess computing capabilities and an IT service environment in dynamicsettings at the edge of the network. Edge computing, at a more generallevel, refers to the movement of compute and storage resources closerto, or into, smart endpoint devices in order to optimize total cost ofownership, reduce application latency, improve service capabilities, andimprove compliance with security or data privacy requirements. Edgecomputing may in some scenarios provide a cloud-like distributedservice, which offers orchestration and management for applicationsamong many types of storage and compute resources. Edge computing may befurther integrated with use cases and technology developed for theInternet-of-Things (IoT) and Fog networking, as endpoint devices andgateways attempt to access network resources and applications atlocations moved closer to the “edge” of the network.

In these and other settings, edge computing attempts to offer reducedlatency, increased responsiveness, and more available computing powerthan offered in traditional cloud network services and wide area networkconnections. Despite the rapid activity occurring with the developmentof standards and architectures involving these technologies, manylimitations and technical problems still exist in the design and use ofIoT, MEC, and next-generation edge networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and notlimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1A illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure with a commoncore network, according to an example;

FIG. 1B illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure with separatecore networks and separate MEC hosts coupled to corresponding radioaccess networks, according to an example;

FIG. 1C illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure with separateMEC hosts coupled to separate distributed core networks, according to anexample;

FIG. 2 illustrates a V2X communication infrastructure using a V2Xcontrol function, according to an example;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a C-V2X communication infrastructureperforming V2X authorization by a MEC host, according to an example;

FIG. 4A illustrates an example Cellular Internet-of-Things (CIoT)network architecture, according to an example;

FIG. 4B illustrates an example Service Capability Exposure Function(SCEF), according to an example;

FIG. 4C illustrates an example roaming architecture for SCEF, accordingto an example;

FIG. 5A is a simplified diagram of an exemplary Next-Generation (NG)system architecture, according to an example;

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary functional split between nextgeneration radio access network (NG-RAN) and the 5G Core network (5GC),according to an example;

FIG. 5C illustrates an exemplary non-roaming 5G system architecture,according to an example;

FIG. 5D illustrates an exemplary non-roaming 5G system architecture,according to an example;

FIG. 6 illustrates a message sequence chart for performing a V2Xauthorization in a MEC host, according to an example;

FIG. 7 illustrates a message sequence chart for performing a V2Xauthorization by a V2X control function in a core network, according toan example;

FIG. 8 illustrates negotiation of a common set of V2X configurationparameters between two MEC hosts, according to an example;

FIG. 9 illustrates negotiation of a common set of V2X configurationparameters via a neutral server, according to an example;

FIG. 10 illustrates a MEC network architecture modified for supportingV2X authorizations using a MEC V2X API, according to an example;

FIG. 11 illustrates a MEC and FOG network topology, according to anexample;

FIG. 12 illustrates processing and storage layers in a MEC and FOGnetwork, according to an example;

FIG. 13 illustrates a MEC architecture with multiple MEC hostssupporting V2X authorizations using MEC V2X APIs, according to example;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example communication between a UE applicationand an MEC application running on a MEC host, according to an example;

FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of a method for V2X communications,according to an example;

FIG. 16 illustrates a domain topology for respective internet-of-things(IoT) networks coupled through links to respective gateways, accordingto an example;

FIG. 17 illustrates a cloud-computing network in communication with amesh network of IoT/endpoint devices operating as a fog device at theedge of the cloud-computing network, according to an example;

FIG. 18 illustrates a block diagram of a network illustratingcommunications among a number of IoT/endpoint devices, according to anexample; and

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram for an example IoT/endpoint devicearchitecture upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,operations, processes, methods, and methodologies) discussed herein maybe performed, according to an example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, methods, configurations, and relatedapparatuses are disclosed for a MEC-based multi-operator support forC-V2X communication systems. As an overview, the technological solutionsdisclosed herein integrate MEC with various types of IoT or Fognetworking implementations. These may benefit a variety of use cases,such as fifth generation (5G) network communications among automotivedevices, including those use cases termed as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),vehicle-tip-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-everything (V2X). Aswith most MEC installations, the goal with the present configurations isto bring the application endpoints as close to the vehicularenvironment, or other endpoints, as possible, to enable low latency orhigh bandwidth services. These systems and techniques may be implementedin, or augment, virtualized environments which may be implemented withinvarious types of MEC, network function virtualization (NFV), or fullyvirtualized 5G network environments.

As is understood, MEC architectures offer application developers andcontent providers cloud-computing capabilities and an IT serviceenvironment at the edge of the network. This environment offersultra-low latency and high bandwidth throughput as well as real-timeaccess to radio network information that may be leveraged byapplications. MEC technology permits flexible and rapid deployments ofinnovative applications and services towards mobile subscribers,enterprises, or vertical segments. For example, regarding the automotivesector, applications such as V2X (e.g., IEEE 802.11p, or 3GPP LTE-V2X)exchange data, provide data to aggregation points, or access data indatabases, to ascertain an overview of the local situation derived froma multitude of sensors (e.g., by various cars, roadside units, etc.).

Techniques disclosed herein may be used to provide V2X servicecontinuity within a C-V2X communication architecture that includesdifferent network providers in the same country and/or differentcountries. More specifically, the following describes techniques forauthorizing V2X communications between devices associated with the sameor different public land mobile networks (PLMNs) using MEC-basedfunctionalities, including determination of V2X configuration parameters(e.g., PC5 configuration parameters) for use within the same ordifferent PLMNs. This is achieved, in some examples, with the use of aMEC V2X application programming interface (API) residing within a MECentity, with the MEC V2X API providing an interface between a MECapplication acting as a V2X application function for purposes ofauthorizing V2X communications and providing V2X configurationparameters for authorized V2X communications.

FIG. 1A illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure 100A with acommon core network, according to an example. The illustrated system isan implementation that operates within the ETSI MEC ISG framework. Theconnections represented by some form of a dashed line (as noted in thelegend in FIG. 1A) may be defined according to a specification from anETSI MEC standards family.

The C-V2X communication infrastructure 100A can include entities from aMEC-based architecture as well as entities from a third generationpartnership project (3GPP) based architecture. For example, the C-V2Xcommunication infrastructure 100A can include a plurality of MEC hostssuch as MEC hosts 102 and 104, a MEC platform manager 106, and a MECorchestrator 108. The 3GPP based entities can include a centralized corenetwork (CN) 110 coupled to an application server 114 via the network112 (e.g., the Internet), as well as radio access networks (RANs)represented by base stations 148 and 150 coupled to corresponding userequipments (UEs) 152 and 154. The base stations 148 and 150 can includeevolved Node-Bs (eNBs), Next Generation Node-Bs (gNBs), or other typesof base stations.

In a vehicular communication context, the C-V2X communicationinfrastructure 100A can be implemented by different network operators inthe same country and/or in different countries. For example, the radioaccess network associated with base station 148 (with a coverage area149) can be within a first public land mobile network (PLMN) (i.e.,associated with a first mobile services provider or operator), and basestation 150 (with a coverage area 151) can be within a second publicland mobile network (PLMN) (i.e., associated with a second mobileservices provider or operator). As used herein, the terms “mobileservices provider” and “mobile services operator” are interchangeable.

In this regard, the C-V2X communication infrastructure 100A can beassociated with a multi-operator scenario composed by two coverage areas149 and 151 where V2X services can be provided, with each coverage areabeing operated by a mobile services operator. Techniques disclosedherein can be used to provide V2X service continuity across coverageareas associated with one or more mobile services operators, withoutservice disruption and by ensuring end-to-end (E2E) performances.Techniques disclosed herein allow for vehicles from different operatorsto communicate with each other, either in-coverage or out-of-coverageareas.

The solid line connections in FIG. 1A represent non-MEC connections,such as utilizing 3GPP cellular network connections S1, S1-AP, etc.Other connection techniques (e.g., protocols) and connections may alsobe used. Accordingly, in the scenario of FIG. 1A, the system entitiesMEC orchestrator 108, MEC platform manager 106, MEC hosts 102, 104 areconnected by MEC (or NFV) logical links (indicated with dashed lines),in addition to network infrastructure links (e.g., a 5G Long TermEvolution (LTE) network, such as provided among UEs 152, 154, eNBs 148,150, a CN site 110, etc.) (indicated with solid lines). Furtherconnection to cloud services (e.g., an application server 114 access viathe network 112) may also be connected via backhaul networkinfrastructure links.

Techniques disclosed herein apply to 4G/LTE/LTE-A (LTE Advanced) and 5Gnetworks, with the examples and aspects disclosed using 4G/LTE networks,as they apply to C-V2X, which is designed and optimized for LTE-A. Inaspects, the CN 110 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, aNextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN (e.g., asillustrated in reference to FIGS. 4A-5D). In EPC (Evolved Packet Core),which is associated with 4G/LTE, the CN 110 can include a servinggateway (S-GW or SGW) 138, a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW orPGW) 140, a mobility management entity (MME) 142, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 144 coupled to a V2X control function 146. In 5G, the CoreNetwork is referred to as the NextGen Packet Network (NPC). In NPC, theS/P-GW are replaced with UPF, and the MME is replaced with twoindividual functional components, the Access Management Function (AMF)and the Session Management Function (SW). The 4G HSS is split intodifferent entities in 5G: the Authentication Server Function (AUSF) andthe Universal Data Management (UDM), with the subscription data beingmanaged via the Universal Data Management (UDM) function. In EPC, the S1interface can be split into two parts: the S1-U (user plane) interfacewhich carries traffic data between the eNBs 148, 150 and the S-GW 138via the MEC hosts 102, 104, and the S1-AP (control plane) interfacewhich is a signaling interface between the eNBs 148, 150 and the MME142.

The MME 142 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacyServing General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). TheMME 142 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selectionand tracking area list management. The HSS 144 may comprise a databasefor network users, including subscription-related information to supportthe network entities' handling of communication sessions, includingsubscription information associated with V2X communications. The CN 110may comprise one or several HSSs 144, depending on the number of mobilesubscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization ofthe network, etc. For example, the HSS 144 can provide support forrouting/roaming, authentication, authorization (e.g., V2X communicationauthorization), naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies,etc.

The S-GW 138 may terminate the S1 interface 413 towards the RANs of eNBs148, 150, and route data packets between the RANs and the CN 110. Inaddition, the S-GW 138 may be a local mobility anchor point forinter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPPmobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging,and some policy enforcement.

The P-GW 140 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 140may route data packets between the RANs and external networks such as anetwork including the application server (AS) 114 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface (e.g., an interface to the network 112 coupled to the AS 114.The P-GW 140 can also communicate data to other external networks, whichcan include the Internet, IP multimedia subsystem (IPS) network, andother networks. Generally, the application server 114 may be an elementoffering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network(e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.).The application server 114 can also be configured to support one or morecommunication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 152, 154 via the CN 110 and one or more ofthe MEC hosts 102, 104.

The P-GW 140 may further include a node for policy enforcement andcharging data collection. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function(PCRF) (not illustrated in FIG. 1A) can be the policy and chargingcontrol element of the CN 110. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be asingle PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associatedwith a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN)session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there maybe two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF)within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public LandMobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF may be communicatively coupled to theapplication server 114 via the P-GW 140. The application server 114 maysignal the PCRF to indicate a new service flow and select theappropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters.

In some aspects, the V2X control function 146 can be used in connectionwith authorizing UEs to use V2X services based on HSS information (e.g.,subscription information managed by the HSS 144), assist one or more UEsin obtaining the network address of an application server (e.g., 114) ora V2X application server, as well as providing V2X configurationparameters for direct communication (i.e., device-to-devicecommunications). The interface for direct device-to-device communicationis referred to as PC5. The PC5 parameters may be provided by the V2Xcontrol function to one or more UEs for purposes of configuring V2Xcommunication between the UEs. For example, techniques disclosed hereincan be used for authorizing UEs 152, 154 for V2X communications andprovisioning V2X configuration parameters to the UE for purposes ofestablishing a V2X communication link 153 (e.g., a V2X communicationlink using a PC5 communication interface).

The MEC host 102 can include an MEC platform 118, which can be coupledto one or more MEC applications (apps) such as MEC app 116 and to MECdata plane 122. The MEC host 104 can include an MEC platform 126, whichcan be coupled to a MEC app 116 and MEC data plane 130. The MEC platformmanager 106 can include a MEC platform element management module 132, aMEC application rules and requirements management module 134, and MECapplication lifecycle management module 136. Additional description ofthe MEC related entities 102, 104, 106, and 108 are provided hereinbelow in connection with FIG. 10 .

In some aspects, one or more of the functions performed by the V2Xcontrol function 146 can be performed by a MEC host within the C-V2Xcommunication infrastructure 100A. More specifically, a MEC host such ashost 102 can implement a MEC app 116 performing various V2X applicationfunctions, such as managing V2X communication authorizations andprovisioning of V2X configuration parameters. In this regard, the MECplatform 118 can include an API, such as MEC V2X API 120, which can beused in connection with gathering relevant subscription information fromthe core network 110 (e.g., subscription information from the HSS 144)as well as communication of V2X configuration parameters or other databetween the MEC host 102 and other MEC related entities. In this regard,by offloading functionalities typically performed by a V2X controlfunction to one or more MEC hosts, MEC based support can be provided toensure alignment of V2X related services across different domainsmanaged by different mobile services providers, including instances whena UE is outside of network coverage of a mobile services provider.Additional MEC hosts, such as MEC host 104, can also implement the sameAPIs as host 102, such as MEC V2X API 128 to perform similarfunctionalities in connection with V2X authorization or other V2Xcommunication related functionalities. FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C illustrateC-V2X communication infrastructures that can implement the abovedescribed features as well as techniques disclosed herein for MEC basedmulti-operator support.

FIG. 1B illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure 100B withseparate core networks and separate MEC hosts coupled to correspondingradio access networks, according to an example. Referring to FIG. 1B,the C-V2X communication infrastructure 100B is similar to the C-V2Xcommunication infrastructure 100A of FIG. 1A, except that each of theMEC hosts 102 and 104 in infrastructure 100B is coupled to a separatecore network. More specifically, MEC host 102 is coupled to a first corenetwork that includes SGW 158 and PG-W 156, MEC host 104 is coupled to asecond core network that includes SGW 162 and PGW 160. Both corenetworks can be coupled to the remote application server 114 via thenetwork 112. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, MEC hosts 102 and 104 can becoupled to each other via a MEC-based interface 190, which can include aMPS interface or another type of interface. Additionally, the MEC hostscan be located on the S1 interfaces of the core networks, downstreambetween the core network and the corresponding RAN of eNBs 148 and 150.In some aspects and as illustrated in FIG. 1B, UEs 152 and 154 can belocated within vehicles or other mobile devices.

FIG. 1C illustrates a C-V2X communication infrastructure 1000 withseparate MEC hosts coupled to separate distributed core networks,according to an example. In some aspects, each of the MEC hosts 102, 104in infrastructure 100C is coupled to a corresponding SGi interfaceassociated with separate distributed core networks. More specifically,MEC host 102 is coupled to a first distributed core network 174 thatincludes SGW/PGW 178. MEC host 104 is coupled to a second distributedcore network 164 that includes SGW/PGW 168. Both distributed corenetworks can be coupled to the remote application server 114 via SGiinterfaces with the MEC hosts 102, 104 and the network 112. Asillustrated in FIG. 1C, MEC hosts 102 and 104 can be coupled to eachother via a MEC-based interface 190, which can include a Mp3 interfaceor another type of interface.

Additionally, the RANs associated with eNBs 148, 150 can be coupled tocorresponding centralized core networks 176 and 166. Centralized CN 166can include MME 170 and SGW/PGW 172, while centralized CN 176 caninclude MME 180 and SGW/PGW 182. In some aspects and as illustrated inFIG. 1C, UEs 152 and 154 can be located within vehicles or other mobiledevices.

FIG. 2 illustrates a V2X communication infrastructure 200 using a V2Xcontrol function, according to an example. Referring to FIG. 2 , the V2Xcommunication infrastructure 200 can be a 3GPP communicationinfrastructure that includes an evolved universal terrestrial radioaccess network (E-UTRAN) 218 coupled to a core network. The core networkof the infrastructure 200 can include MME 226, SGW/PGW 228, HSS 224, anda V2X control function 220. A plurality of UEs, such as UEs 202 and 208,can be connected to the E-UTRAN 218 via LTE-UU interfaces. A pluralityof additional UEs, such as UEs 204 and 206, can be configured for V2Xcommunications based on configuration information from the V2Xapplication server 222. Some of the UEs within infrastructure 200 can belocated within moving vehicles (e.g., UEs 202 and 204), some of the UEscan be stationary (e.g., UE 208), and some UEs can be located with apedestrian (e.g., UE 206).

In some aspects, each of the UEs 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be runningcorresponding V2X applications 210, 212, 214, and 216. The V2Xapplications can communicate via a V5 interface, and V2X communicationsbetween corresponding UEs can take place using a PC5 interface, asillustrated in FIG. 2 .

The V2X control function 220 within the 3GPP communicationinfrastructure 200 can be configured to perform the following V2Xrelated functionalities: communicate a network address of the V2Xapplication server 222 two various UEs so that the UEs can access V2Xapplications and can request authorization for using V2X communicationservices authorizing the UEs to use V2X services based on subscriptioninformation maintained by the HSS 224; and provide V2X configurationparameters to the UEs upon successful authorization of the UEs fourusing V2X services.

Since the V2X control function 220 is part of a 3GPP infrastructure,there may be challenges in providing V2X communication services incommunication infrastructures with multiple mobile services operators,each associated with a separate public land mobile network (PLMN). IfPc5 parameters are different, two UEs cannot communicate directly in adevice-to-device V2X communication. In some aspects and as describedherein, MEC based entities can be used to fully (or partially) performthe functionalities of a V2X control function associated with a 3GPPinfrastructure, such as notifying UEs of a network address of a V2Xapplication server that can accept authorization requests for V2Xcommunications, performing V2X communication authorizations, negotiatingcommon set of V2X configuration parameters between multiple mobileservices operators, and communicating V2X configuration parameters toUEs that have been authorized for V2X communications (where theprovisioning of V2X communication parameters can be outside of the 3GPPdomain associated with each PLMN).

In order to ensure alignment across different mobile services operators'domains (also in absence of cellular coverage), techniques disclosedherein can support a MEC based solution, including MEC apps acting asV2X application functions and running on MEC Hosts (e.g., using at leastone MEC host for each operator domain). In some aspects, the MEC appscan be configured to communicate securely with 3GPP core networkentities through a MEC V2X API (which can be an API that is part of theMEC platform of each MEC host). The MEC V2X API can be used forgathering relevant information from the 3GPP network (e.g., a list ofauthorized UEs, additional information about the authorization based onthe UE subscription, the relevant PC5 configuration parameters or otherV2X configuration parameters, and so forth).

Techniques disclosed herein can be used in connection with communicationof a network address information of the V2X MEC host/application serverto a UE in order for the UE to request authorization to use V2Xservices; obtain V2X related subscription information (e.g., a list ofUEs subscribed to V2X services) by the V2X MEC host/application server;and configuring PC5 parameters or other type of V2X configurationparameters in a multi-PLMN architecture. In this regard, servicecontinuity for V2X users can be ensured in multi-operator environments(e.g., with multiple PLMNs) where some of the V2X users may be outsideof the 3GPP domain coverage.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a C-V2X communication infrastructure 300performing C-V2X authorization by a MEC host, according to an example.Referring to FIG. 3 , the C-V2X communication infrastructure 300includes two coverage areas (PLMN A and PLMN B) where V2X services areprovided by a separate mobile operator (e.g., designating differentcountries or simply areas with partially overlapped coverages). Thefirst coverage area of PLMN A includes a MEC host 302, a core network304, a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running a V2Xapplication 310. The core network 304 includes a V2X control function312, a HSS 314, a PGW/SGW 316, and a MME 318, which can performfunctionalities performed by any of the V2X control function, HSS,PGW/SGW, and MME described in connection with any of the precedingfigures. The second coverage area of PLMN B includes a MEC host 320, acore network 304, a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running aV2X application 310. The core network 322 includes a V2X controlfunction 330, a HSS 332, a PGW/SGW 334, and a MME 336.

In some aspects, the MEC host 302 can include a MEC V2X API 341, whichcan be used for communication with the V2X control function 312 ingathering PC5 V2X relevant information from the core network 304. TheMEC host 302 may also use the MEC V2X API 341 to obtain subscriptioninformation 346 which can originate from the HSS 314. Even though notillustrated in FIG. 3 , other V2X relevant information can becommunicated via the MEC V2X API 341, including V2X configurationparameters that may be available to the core network 304 as well asother V2X related information such as a list of authorized UEs that canperform V2X communication functions, the UE capabilities, etc.

In some aspects, a network address 342 of the MEC host 302 can becommunicated to UE 308 via the V2X Control Function 312 and the eNB 306.For example, UE 308 can receive higher layer signaling such as radioresource control (RRC) signaling or non-access stratum (NAS) signalingthat includes the network address 342. Such higher layer signaling canoriginate from the V2X control function 312 or other core networkentities such as the V2X control function communicating to the UE viathe V3 interface. In some aspects, the network address 342 of the MEChost 302 can be preconfigured in the UE or a well-known host address canbe used (e.g., a reserved network address that is known to UEs withinthe PLMN).

In some aspects, the MEC host 302 can obtain the subscriptioninformation 346 or other relevant V2X authorization information using adatabase outside of the 3GPP domain of the core network 304. In someaspects, a list of authorized UEs for V2X services can bepre-provisioned by mobile services operators and provided to the MEChosts (e.g., MEC host 302) off-line. Yet in other aspects, subscriptioninformation 346 can be communicated from the HSS 314 to the V2X controlfunction 312 via a V4 interface, and the MEC host 302 can access thesubscription information 346 via the MEC V2X API 341.

In operation, UE 308 can receive the network address 342 of the MEC host302 and can communicate a V2X authorization request 344 to the MEC host302 using the network address 342. The MEC host 302 may obtain thesubscription information 346 in order to determine if the UE 308 isauthorized for V2X communications. A V2X authorization along with V2Xconfiguration parameters 348 can be communicated back to the UE 308. TheUE 308 can use the V2X configuration parameters 348, which can includePC5 configuration parameters, to establish a V2X communication link 340with the UE 326 that is active within PLMN B.

The MEC V2X API 343 associated with MEC host 320 can perform similarfunctionalities as discussed in connection with the MEC V2X API 341. Insome aspects, MEC hosts 302 can be connected to MEC host 320 viainterface 338, which can include a Mp3 interface or another type ofinterface. In some aspects, one or more MEC applications within the MEChost 302 can communicate with one or more MEC applications within MEChost 320 via the MEC V2X APIs 341 and 343 as well as the communicationlink 338. Such host-to-host communication can be used in connection withnegotiating a common set of V2X configuration parameters, as explainedherein below.

Even though subscription information 346 is illustrated as originatingfrom HSS 314, the disclosure is not limited in this regard and othertechniques can be used for obtaining subscription information inconnection with, e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G communicationnetworks as discussed herein below in connection with FIG. 4A-FIG. 5D.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example Cellular Internet-of-Things (CIoT)network architecture 400A, according to an example. Referring to FIG.4A, the CIoT architecture 400A can include the UE 402 and the RAN 404coupled to a plurality of core network entities. In some aspects, the UE402 can be a machine-type communication (MTC) UE. The CIoT networkarchitecture 400A can further include a mobile services switching center(MSC) 406, MME 408, a serving GPRS support note (SGSN) 410, a S-GW 412,an IP-Short-Message-Gateway (IP-SM-GW) 414, a Short MessageService-Service Center (SMS-SC)/gateway mobile service center(GMSC)/Interworking MSC (IWMSC) 416, MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF)422, a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) 420, a gateway GPRSsupport node (GGSN)/Packet-GW (P-GW) 418, a charging data function(CDF)/charging gateway function (CGF) 424, a home subscriber server(HSS)/a home location register (HLR) 426, short message entities (SME)428, MTC authorization, authentication, and accounting (MTC AAA) server430, a service capability server (SCS) 432, and application servers (AS)434 and 436. In some aspects, the SCEF 420 can be configured to securelyexpose services and capabilities provided by various 3GPP networkinterfaces. The SCEF 420 can also provide means for the discovery of theexposed services and capabilities, as well as access to networkcapabilities through various network application programming interfaces(e.g., API interfaces to the SCS 432).

FIG. 4A further illustrates various reference points between differentservers, functions, or communication nodes of the CIoT networkarchitecture 400A. Some example reference points related to MTC-IWF 422and SCEF 420 include the following: Tsms (a reference point used by anentity outside the 3GPP network to communicate with UEs used for MTC viaSMS), Tsp (a reference point used by a SCS to communicate with theMTC-IWF related control plane signaling), T4 (a reference point usedbetween MTC-IWF 422 and the SMS-SC 416 in the HPLMN), T6a (a referencepoint used between SCEF 420 and serving MME 408), T6b (a reference pointused between SCEF 420 and serving SGSN 410), T8 (a reference point usedbetween the SCEF 420 and the SCS/AS 434, 436), S6m (a reference pointused by MTC-IWF 422 to interrogate IISS/HLR 426), S6n (a reference pointused by MTC-AAA server 430 to interrogate HSS/HLR 426), and S6t (areference point used between SCEF 420 and HSS/HLR 426).

In some aspects, the CIoT UE 402 can be configured to communicate withone or more entities within the CIoT architecture 400A via the RAN 404(e.g., CIoT RAN) according to a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol, andusing one or more radio access configuration, such as a narrowband airinterface, for example, based on one or more communication technologies,such as Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology. Asused herein, the term “CIoT UE” refers to a UE capable of CIoToptimizations, as part of a CIoT communications architecture. In someaspects, the NAS protocol can support a set of NAS messages forcommunication between the CIoT UE 402 and an Evolved Packet System (EPS)Mobile Management Entity (MME) 421 and SGSN 462. In some aspects, theCIoT network architecture 400A can include a packet data network, anoperator network, or a cloud service network, having, for example, amongother things, servers such as the Service Capability Server (SCS) 432,the AS 434, or one or more other external servers or network components.In some aspects, the UE 402 can be configured for V2X communicationswithin the architecture 400A using one or more of the techniquesdisclosed herein.

The RAN 404 can be coupled to the HSS/HLR servers 426 and the AAAservers 430 using one or more reference points including, for example,an air interface based on an S6a reference point, and configured toauthenticate/authorize CIoT UE 402 to access the CIoT network. The RAN404 can be coupled to the CIoT network architecture 400A using one ormore other reference points including, for example, an air interfacecorresponding to an SGi/Gi interface for 3GPP accesses. The RAN 404 canbe coupled to the SCEF 420 using, for example, an air interface based ona T6a/T6b reference point, for service capability exposure. In someaspects, the SCEF 420 may act as an API GW towards a third-partyapplication server such as AS 434. The SCEF 420 can be coupled to theHSS/HLR 426 and MTC AAA 430 servers using an S6t reference point and canfurther expose an Application Programming Interface to networkcapabilities.

In certain examples, one or more of the CIoT devices disclosed herein,such as the CIoT LE 402, the CIoT RAN 4104, etc., can include one ormore other non-CIoT devices, or non-CIoT devices acting as CIoT devices,or having functions of a CIoT device. For example, the CIoT UE 402 caninclude a smart phone, a tablet computer, or one or more otherelectronic device acting as a CIoT device for a specific function, whilehaving other additional functionality. In some aspects, the RAN 404 caninclude a CIoT enhanced Node B (MT eNB) communicatively coupled to aCIoT Access Network Gateway (MT GW). In certain examples, the RAN 404can include multiple base stations (e.g., CIoT eNBs or other types ofbase stations) connected to the CIoT GW, which can include MSC 406, MME408, SGSN 410, or S-GW 412. In certain examples, the internalarchitecture of RAN 404 and the CIoT GW may be left to theimplementation and need not be standardized.

In some aspects, the subscription information 346 can be communicatedfrom the HSS 426 to the SCEF 420 via the S6t interface. The SCEF 420 cancommunicate the subscription information 346 to the SCS 432 and onto anapplication server 434 which can be a MEC host such as MEC host 302.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example Service Capability Exposure Function(SCEF), according to an example. Referring to FIG. 4B, the SCEF 472 canbe configured to expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPPnetwork interfaces to external third-party service provider servershosting various applications. In some aspects, a 3GPP network such asthe CIoT architecture 400A, can expose the following services andcapabilities: a home subscriber server (HSS) 456A, a policy and chargingrules function (PCRF) 4568, a packet flow description function (PFDF)456C, a MME/SGSN 456D, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC)456E, a serving call server control function (S-CSCF) 456F, a RANcongestion awareness function (RCAF) 456G, and one or more other networkentities 456H. The above-mentioned services and capabilities of a 3GPPnetwork can communicate with the SCEF 420 via one or more interfaces asillustrated in FIG. 4B. The SCEF 420 can be configured to expose the3GPP network services and capabilities to one or more applicationsrunning on one or more service capability server (SCS)/applicationserver (AS), such as SCS/AS 454A, 454B, . . . , 454N. Each of the SCS/AS454A-454N can communicate with the SCEF 420 via application programminginterfaces (APIs) 452A, 452B, 452C, . . . , 452N, as seen in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4C illustrates an example roaming architecture for SCEF, accordingto an example. Referring to FIG. 4C, the SCEF 420 can be located in ahome PLMN (HPLMN) 450 and can be configured to expose 3GPP networkservices and capabilities, such as 446, . . . , 448. In some aspects,3GPP network services and capabilities, such as 442, . . . , 444 can belocated within a visiting PLMN (VPLMN) 440. In this case, the 3GPPnetwork services and capabilities within the VPLMN 440 can be exposed tothe SCEF 4420 via an interworking SCEF (IWK-SCEF) 497 within the VPLMN440.

FIG. 5A is a simplified diagram of an exemplary Next-Generation (NG)system architecture 500A, according to an example. Referring to FIG. 5A,the NG system architecture 500A includes NG-RAN 504 and a 5G networkcore (5GC) 506. The NG-RAN 504 can include a plurality of NG-RAN nodes,for example, gNBs 508 and 510, and NG-eNBs 512 and 514. The gNBs 508/510and the NG-eNBs 512/514 can be communicatively coupled to the UE 502 viaa wireless connection. The core network 506 (e.g., a 5G core network or5GC) can include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 516 ora user plane function (UPF) 518. The AMF 516 and the UPF 518 can becommunicatively coupled to the gNBs 508/510 and the NG-eNBs 512/514 viaNG interfaces. More specifically, in some aspects, the gNBs 508/510 andthe NG-eNBs 512/514 can be connected to the AMF 516 by N2 interface, andto the UPF 518 by N3 interface. The gNBs 508/510 and the NG-eNBs 512/514can be coupled to each other via Xn interfaces.

In some aspects, a gNB 508 can include a node providing New Radio (NR)user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE, andcan be connected via the NG interface to the 5GC 506. In some aspects,an NG-eNB 512/514 can include a node providing evolved universalterrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocolterminations towards the UE, and is connected via the NG interface tothe 5GC 506. In some aspects, any of the gNBs 508/510 and the NG-eNBs512/514 can be implemented as a base station (BS), a mobile edge server,a small cell, a home eNB, although aspects are not so limited. In someaspects, the UE 502 can be configured for V2X communications within thearchitecture 500A (as well as 500C of FIG. 5C and 500D of FIG. 5D usingone or more of the techniques disclosed herein).

FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary functional split between nextgeneration radio access network (NG-RAN) and the 5G Core network (5GC),according to an example. FIG. 5B illustrates some of the functionalitiesthe gNBs 508/510 and the NG-eNBs 512/514 can perform within the NG-RAN504, as well as the AMF 516, the UPF 518, and a Session ManagementFunction (SW) 526 (not illustrated in FIG. 5A) within the 5GC 506. Insome aspects, the 5GC 506 can provide access to a network 530 (e.g., theInternet) to one or more devices via the NG-RAN 504.

In some aspects, the gNBs 508/510 and the NG-eNBs 512/514 can beconfigured to host the following functions: functions for Radio ResourceManagement (e.g., inter-cell radio resource management 520A, radiobearer control 520B, connection mobility control 520C, radio admissioncontrol 520D, measurement and measurement reporting configuration formobility and scheduling 520E, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEsin both uplink and downlink (scheduling) 520F); IP header compression;encryption and integrity protection of data; selection of an AMF at UEattachment when no routing to an AMF can be determined from theinformation provided by the UE; routing of User Plane data towardsUPF(s); routing of Control Plane information towards AMF; connectionsetup and release; scheduling and transmission of paging messages(originated from the AMF); scheduling and transmission of systembroadcast information (originated from the AMF or Operation andMaintenance); transport level packet marking in the uplink; sessionmanagement; support of network slicing; QoS flow management and mappingto data radio bearers; support of UEs in RRC_INACTIVE state;distribution function for non-access stratum (NAS) messages; radioaccess network sharing; dual connectivity; and tight interworkingbetween NR and E-UTRA, to name a few.

In some aspects, the AMF 516 can be configured to host the followingfunctions, for example: NAS signaling termination; NAS signalingsecurity 522A; access stratum (AS) security control; inter core network(CN) node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks; idlestate/mode mobility handling 522B, including mobile device, such as a UEreachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission);registration area management; support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility; access authentication; access authorization including check ofroaming rights; mobility management control (subscription and policies);support of network slicing; or SMF selection, among other functions.

The UPF 518 can be configured to host the following functions, forexample: mobility anchoring 524A (e.g., anchor point forIntra-/Inter-RAT mobility); packet data unit (PDU) handling 524B (e.g.,external PDU session point of interconnect to data network); packetrouting and forwarding; packet inspection and user plane part of policyrule enforcement; traffic usage reporting, uplink classifier to supportrouting traffic flows to a data network; branching point to supportmulti-homed PDU session; QoS handling for user plane, e.g., packetfiltering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement; uplink traffic verification(SDF to QoS flow mapping); or downlink packet buffering and downlinkdata notification triggering, among other functions.

The Session Management function (SMF) 526 can be configured to host thefollowing functions, for example: session management; UE IP addressallocation and management 528A; selection and control of user planefunction (UPF); PDU session control 528B, including configuring trafficsteering at UPF 518 to route traffic to proper destination; control partof policy enforcement and QoS; or downlink data notification, amongother functions.

FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D illustrate exemplary non-roaming 5G systemarchitectures in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 5C, anexemplary 5G system architecture 500C in a reference pointrepresentation is illustrated. More specifically, UE 502 can be incommunication with RAN 504 as well as one or more other 5G core (5GC)network entities. The 5G system architecture 500C includes a pluralityof network functions (NFs), such as access and mobility managementfunction (AMF) 516, session management function (SW) 526, policy controlfunction (PCF) 532, application function (AF) 552, user plane function(UPF) 518, network slice selection function (NSSF) 534, authenticationserver function (AUSF) 536, and unified data management (UDM) 538.

The UPF 518 can provide a connection to a data network (DN) 554, whichcan include, for example, operator services, Internet access, orthird-party services. The AMF 516 can be used to manage access controland mobility and can also include network slice selection functionality.The SMF 526 can be configured to set up and manage various sessionsaccording to a network policy. The UPF 518 can be deployed in one ormore configurations according to a desired service type. The PCF 532 canbe configured to provide a policy framework using network slicing,mobility management, and roaming (similar to PCRF in a 4G communicationsystem). The UDM 538 can be configured to store subscriber profiles anddata (similar to an HSS in a 4G communication system), such as V2Xsubscription information or other type of subscription information forservices available within the architecture 500C.

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 500C includes an IPmultimedia subsystem (IMS) 542 as well as a plurality of IP multimediacore network subsystem entities, such as call session control functions(CSCFs). More specifically, the IMS 542 includes a CSCF, which can actas a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 544, a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 546, an emergencyCSCF (E-CSCF) (not illustrated in FIG. 5C), or interrogating CSCF(I-CSCF) 548. The P-CSCF 544 can be configured to be the first contactpoint for the UE 502 within the IMS 542. The S-CSCF 546 can beconfigured to handle the session states in the network, and the E-CSCFcan be configured to handle certain aspects of emergency sessions suchas routing an emergency request to the correct emergency center orpublic safety answering point (PSAP). The I-CSCF 548 can be configuredto function as the contact point within an operator's network for allIMS connections destined to a subscriber of that network operator, or aroaming subscriber currently located within that network operator'sservice area. In some aspects, the I-CSCF 548 can be connected toanother IP multimedia network 550, e.g. an IMS operated by a differentnetwork operator.

In some aspects, the UDM 538 can be coupled to an application server540, which can include a telephony application server (TAS) or anotherapplication server (AS) including a MEC host. The AS 540 can be coupledto the IMS 542 via the S-CSCF 546 or the I-CSCF 548. In some aspects,the 5G system architecture 500C can provide V2X authorization servicesusing one or more of the techniques described herein.

FIG. 5D illustrates an exemplary 5G system architecture 500D in aservice-based representation. System architecture 500D can besubstantially similar to (or the same as) system architecture 500C. Inaddition to the network entities illustrated in FIG. 5C, systemarchitecture 500D can also include a network exposure function (NEF) 556and a network repository function (NRF) 558. In some aspects, 5G systemarchitectures can be service-based and interaction between networkfunctions can be represented by corresponding point-to-point referencepoints Ni (as illustrated in FIG. 5C) or as service-based interfaces (asillustrated in FIG. 5D).

A reference point representation shows that an interaction can existbetween corresponding NF services. For example, FIG. 5C illustrates thefollowing reference points: N1 (between the UE 502 and the AMF 516), N2(between the RAN 504 and the AMF 516), N3 (between the RAN 504 and theUPF 518), N4 (between the SMF 526 and the UPF 518), N5 (between the PCF532 and the AF 552), N6 (between the UPF 518 and the DN 554), N7(between the SMF 526 and the PCF 532), N8 (between the UDM 538 and theAMF 516), N9 (between two UPFs 518). N10 (between the UDM 538 and theSMF 526), N11 (between the AMF 516 and the SMF 526), N12 (between theAUSF 536 and the AMF 516), N13 (between the AUSF 536 and the UDM 538),N14 (between two AMFs 516), N15 (between the PCF 532 and the AMF 516 incase of a non-roaming scenario, or between the PCF 532 and a visitednetwork and AMF 516 in case of a roaming scenario), N16 (between twoSMFs; not shown), and N22 (between AMF 516 and NSSF 534). Otherreference point representations not shown in FIG. 5C can also be used.

In some aspects, as illustrated in FIG. 5D, service-basedrepresentations can be used to represent network functions within thecontrol plane that enable other authorized network functions to accesstheir services. In this regard, 5G system architecture 500D can includethe following service-based interfaces: Namf 564A (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the AMF 516), Nsmf 564B (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the SMF 526), Nnef 564C (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the NEF 556), Npcf 564D (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the PCF 532), Nudm 564E (a service-basedinterface exhibited by the UDM 538), Naf 564F (a service-based interfaceexhibited by the AF 552), Nnrf 564G (a service-based interface exhibitedby the NRF 558), Nnssf 564H (a service-based interface exhibited by theNSSF 534), Nausf 564I (a service-based interface exhibited by the AUSF560). Other service-based interfaces (e.g., Nudr, N5g-eir, and Nudsf)not shown in FIG. 5D can also be used.

In some aspects, the NEF 556 can provide an interface to an MEC hostsuch as MEC host 562. In this regard, subscription informationassociated with the UE 502, such as subscription information 346, can becommunicated from UDM 538 via the AMF 516, RAN 504, and NEF 556 to theMEC host 562 four purposes of performing a V2X authorization asdisclosed herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates a message sequence chart 600 for performing a V2Xauthorization in a MEC host, according to an example. Referring to FIG.6 , the message sequence chart 600 can be performed by entities asdiscussed in connection with FIG. 3 , such as UE 308, V2X controlfunction 312, HSS 314, and MEC host 302. At operation 602, the networkaddress 342 of the MEC host 302 can be communicated to the UE 308 fromthe V2X control function 312. At operation 604, a V2X authorizationrequest 344 can be communicated by the UE 308 to the MEC host 302 usingthe network address 342. At operation 606, the MEC host 302 can obtainUE subscription information 346 (e.g., subscription informationassociated with V2X communications) from the HSS 314 (e.g., via, NEF asillustrated in FIG. 5D, via SCEF as illustrated in FIG. 4A, or via theV2X control function 312). During operation 606, the relevant UEsubscription information can be obtained via a MEC V2X API within theMEC host 302.

At operation 608, an authorization response 610 can be communicated backfrom the MEC host 302 to the UE 308. The authorization response 610 canindicate whether the authorization request 344 has been approved ordenied based on the UE subscription information. Upon a successfulauthorization, at operation 612, UE 308 can obtain a common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters (e.g., PC5 configuration parameters) from theMEC host 302. The common set of PC5 parameters may optionally beincluded in the Authorization Response message 610. The UE 308 can usethe V2X configuration parameters to establish a V2X communication linkwith UE 326, which can include a link using a PC5 interface.

In some aspects and as illustrated in FIG. 7 , functionality isperformed by a V2X control function (e.g., as performed within a 3GPPdomain) can be logically split so that some V2X related functionalities(e.g., obtaining a common set of V2X configuration parameters) can bepartially offloaded to the V2X application function (e.g., residing in aV2X application server outside the 3GPP domain). The V2X controlfunction inside the 3GPP domain can still perform the following actions:authorizing the Ti to use V2X services based on HSS information (e.g.,subscription information received from HSS via a V4 interface) andassist the UE in obtaining the address of the V2X application server.The entity/function outside of the 3GPP domain (e.g., the V2Xapplication function running in the V2X application server) can beresponsible for providing V2X configuration parameters, such as a commonset of PC5 parameters (i.e., PC5 parameters that are common for PLMN Aand PLMN B as determined based on functionalities described inconnection with FIG. 8 in FIG. 9 ).

FIG. 7 illustrates a message sequence chart 700 for performing a V2Xauthorization by a V2X control function in a core network, according toan example. Referring to FIG. 7 , the message sequence chart 700 can beperformed by some of the entities as discussed in connection with FIG. 3, such as UE 308, V2X control function 312, HSS 314, and a V2Xapplication server 702. The V2X application server can implement a V2Xapplication function, which can be used to perform V2X configurationrelated functionalities, such as providing a common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters to UEs authorized for V2X communications. Insome aspects, the V2X application server can be the MEC host 302, whichcan be running a MEC application performing V2X application functions.

At operation 704, the network address of the V2X application server 702can be discovered by the UE 308. For example, UE 308 can receive higherlayer signaling indicating the server address or the server address canbe provided by the core network via the V2X control function 312. Atoperation 706, a V2X authorization request 708 can be communicated bythe UE 308 to the V2X control function 312. At operation 710, the V2Xcontrol function 312 can send a request 712 for UE subscriptioninformation to the HSS 314. At operation 714, HSS 314 can communicateback UE subscription information 716 in response to the request 712. Atoperation 718, the V2X control function 312 can communicate anauthorization response 720 back to the UE 308. In some aspects, theauthorization response 720 can also be communicated to the V2Xapplication server 702. At operation 722, based on the authorizationresponse 720, V2X configuration parameters can be communicated to the UE308 for configuring a V2X communication link with another UE. In someaspects, the V2X configuration parameters can include a set of PC5parameters that is common to multiple PLMNs (e.g., PLMN A of UE 308 andPLMN B of UE 326) and can be used for establishing a PC5 communicationlink between UEs 308 and 326. The common set of V2X configurationparameters can be communicated to the UE from the V2X application server702, based on the authorization response 720.

FIG. 8 illustrates negotiation of a common set of V2X configurationparameters between two MEC hosts, according to an example. Referring toFIG. 8 , the C-V2X communication infrastructure 800 can be similar tothe C-V2X communication infrastructure 300 and can include two coverageareas (PLMN A and PLMN B) where V2X services are provided by a separatemobile operator (e.g., designating different countries or simply areaswith partially overlapped coverages). PLMN A includes a MEC host 302, acore network 304, a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running aV2X application 310. The core network 304 includes a V2X controlfunction 312, a HSS 314, a PGW/SGW 316, and a MME 318, which can performfunctionalities performed by any of the V2X control function, HSS,PGW/SGW, and MME described in connection with any of the precedingfigures. The second PLMN B includes a MEC host 320, a core network 304,a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running a V2X application310. The core network 322 includes a V2X control function 330, a HSS332, a PGW/SGW 334, and a MME 336.

V2X configuration parameters used within each of the PLMNs A and B canbe different, in which case UEs from different PLMNs cannot communicatewith each other directly via PC5 interface. In some aspects, a commonset of V2X configuration parameters can be configured and provisionedwithin both PLMN A and PLMN B for use by UEs when establishing V2Xcommunications. More specifically, at operation 802, MEC hosts 302 and320 can exchange V2X configuration parameters via the communication link338. In some aspects, the V2X configuration parameters can be exchangedusing the MEC V2X APIs 341 and 343 as well as the communication link 338between the hosts. In some aspects, communication link 338 can include aMp3 interface which can be an ETSI MEC interface. The MEC hosts 302 and320 can negotiate a common set of V2X configuration parameters based on,e.g., network latency, bandwidth, QOS requirements, and othercharacteristics associated with both PLMN A and PLMN B.

At operation 804, the common set of V2X configuration parameters can beprovisioned to the core networks 304 and 322 via, e.g., the MEC V2X APIs341 and 343. In some aspects, the MEC V2X APIs 341 and 343 can provide aconnection between the MEC hosts 302 and 322 the corresponding V2Xcontrol functions 312 and 330. At operation 806, the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters can be provided to the corresponding UEs 308and 326. In some aspects, the common set of V2X configuration parameterscan be provided from the MEC host to the UE or from the V2X controlfunction to the UE upon successful V2X authorization of the UE, asdescribed herein above. At operation 808, UEs 308 and 326 can use thecommon set of V2X configuration parameters to establish V2Xcommunication link 340, which can be based on a PC5 interface.

FIG. 9 illustrates negotiation of a common set of V2X configurationparameters via a neutral server, according to an example. Referring toFIG. 9 , the C-V2X communication infrastructure 900 can be similar tothe C-V2X communication infrastructure 300 and can include two coverageareas (PLMN A and PLMN B) where V2X services are provided by differentmobile operators in the same geographical area (e.g., designatingdifferent countries or simply areas with partially overlappedcoverages). The first PLMN A includes a MEC host 302, a core network304, a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running a V2Xapplication 310. The core network 304 includes a V2X control function312, a HSS 314, a PGW/SGW 316, and a MME 318, which can performfunctionalities performed by any of the V2X control function, HSS,PGW/SGW, and MIME described in connection with any of the precedingfigures. The second PLMN B includes a MEC host 320, a core network 304,a base station (e.g., eNB) 306, and a UE 308 running a V2X application310. The core network 322 includes a V2X control function 330, a HSS332, a PGW/SGW 334, and a MME 336.

V2X configuration parameters used within each of the PLMNs A and B canbe different. In some aspects, a common set of V2X configurationparameters can be configured by a PLMN-neutral server and provisionedwithin both PLMN A and PLMN B by the neutral server for use by UEs whenestablishing V2X communications. For example, an operator neutral server902 within network 904 can generate a common set of V2X configurationparameters for use by mobile services operators associated withdifferent PLMNs.

At operation 906, the operator neutral server 902 can communicate thecommon set of V2X configuration parameters to MEC hosts 302 and 320 viacommunication links 914 and 916. In some aspects, the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters can be received via the MEC V2X APIs 341 and343.

At operation 908, the common set of V2X configuration parameters can beprovisioned to the core networks 304 and 322 via, e.g., the MEC V2X APIs341 and 343. In some aspects, the MEC V2X APIs 341 and 343 can provide aconnection between the MEC hosts 302 and 322 the corresponding V2Xcontrol functions 312 and 330. At operation 910, the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters can be provided to the corresponding UEs 308and 326. In some aspects, the common set of V2X configuration parameterscan be provided from the MEC host to the UE or from the V2X controlfunction to the UE upon successful V2X authorization of the UE. Atoperation 912, UEs 308 and 326 can use the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters to establish V2X communication link 340, whichcan be based on a PC5 interface.

FIG. 10 illustrates a MEC network architecture modified for supportingV2X authorizations using a MEC V2X API, according to an example. FIG. 10specifically illustrates a MEC system (in accordance with the ETSI GSMEC-003 specification), with shaded blocks used to indicate processingaspects for the MEC architecture configuration described above.Specifically, enhancements to the UE app 1018 and the MEC platform 1032of MEC host 1002 may be used for multi-operator support in C-V2Xarchitectures (e.g., to authorize and configure V2X communications).This may include the definition of functions, interfaces, data values,and operational requirements to support V2X authorization andconfiguration among any of these MEC processing entities.

Referring to FIG. 10 , the MEC network architecture 1000 can include MEChosts 1002 and 1004, a virtualization infrastructure manager (VIM) 1008,a MEC platform manager 1006, a MEC orchestrator 1010, and operationssupport system 1012, a user app proxy 1014, a UE app 1018 running on UE1020, and CFS portal 1016. The MEC host 1002 can include a MEC platform1032 with filtering roles control module 1040, DNS handling module 1042,service registry 1038, and MEC services 1036. The MEC platform 1032 caninstantiate MEC apps 1026 and 1028, with MEC app 1028 providing one ormore services 1030. The MEC platform manager 1006 can include MECplatform element management module 1044, MEC app rules and requirementsmanagement module 1046, and MEC app lifecycle management module 1048.The functionalities of the various entities within the MEC architecture1000 can perform functionalities as disclosed by the GS MEC-003specification.

In some aspects, the ME app 1026 within MEC host 1002 can beinstantiated to perform functionalities of a V2X application function1031, such as described in connection with FIG. 13 . Additionally, MEChosts 1002, 1004 can use MEC V2X APIs (e.g., API 1034 in MEC host 1002)to perform functions as described in connection with FIG. 13 .

FIG. 11 illustrates a MEC and FOG network topology 1100, according to anexample. Referring to FIG. 11 , the network topology 1100 can include anumber of conventional networking layers, may be extended through use ofMEC V2X APIs discussed herein. Specifically, the relationships betweenendpoints (at endpoints/things network layer 1150), gateways (at gatewaylayer 1140), access or edge computing nodes (e.g., at neighborhood nodeslayer 1130), core network or routers (e.g., at regional or centraloffice layer 1120), may be represented through the use of datacommunicated via MEC V2X APIs located at various nodes within thetopology 1100.

A FOG network (e.g., established at gateway layer 1140) may represent adense geographical distribution of near-user edge devices (e.g., FOGnodes), equipped with storage capabilities (e.g., to avoid the need tostore data in cloud data centers), communication capabilities (e.g.,rather than routed over the Internet backbone), control capabilities,configuration capabilities, measurement and management capabilities(rather than controlled primarily by network gateways such as those inthe LTE core network), among others. In this context, FIG. 11illustrates a general architecture that integrates a number of MEC andFOG nodes—categorized in different layers (based on their position,connectivity and processing capabilities, etc.), with each nodeimplementing a MEC V2X API that can enable a MEC app or other entity ofa MEC enabled node to communicate with other nodes. It will beunderstood, however, that such FOG nodes may be replaced or augmented byedge computing processing nodes.

FOG nodes may be categorized depending on the topology and the layerwhere they are located. In contrast, from a MEC standard perspective,each FOG node may be considered as a MEC host, or a simple entityhosting a MEC app and a light-weighted MEC platform.

In an example, a MEC or FOG node may be defined as an applicationinstance, connected to or running on a device (MEC host) that is hostinga MEC platform. Here, the application consumes MEC services and isassociated to a MEC host in the system. The nodes may be migrated,associated to different MEC hosts, or consume MEC services from other(e.g., local or remote) MEC platforms.

In contrast to this approach, traditional V2V applications are relianton remote cloud data storage and processing to exchange and coordinateinformation. A cloud data arrangement allows for long-term datacollection and storage, but is not optimal for highly time varying data,such as a collision, traffic light change, etc. and may fail inattempting to meet latency challenges, such as stopping a vehicle when achild runs into the street.

In some aspects, the MEC or FOG facilities can be used to locallycreate, maintain, and destroy MEC or FOG nodes to host data exchangedvia the MEC V2X APIs, based upon need. Depending on the real-timerequirements in a vehicular communications context, a hierarchicalstructure of data processing and storage nodes can be defined. Forexample, including local ultra-low-latency processing, regional storageand processing as well as remote cloud data-center based storage andprocessing. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) may be used to identifywhere sensor data is best transferred and where it is processed orstored. This typically depends on the ISO layer dependency of the data.For example, lower layer (PHY, MAC, routing, etc.) data typicallychanges quickly and is better handled locally in order to meet latencyrequirements. Higher layer data such as Application Layer data istypically less time critical and may be stored and processed in a remotecloud data-center. In some aspects, the KPIs are metrics or operationalparameters that can include spatial proximity to a V2X-related targetevent (e.g., accident, etc.); physical proximity to other objects (e.g.,how much time is required to transfer data from one data or applicationobject to another object); available processing power; or current loadof the target (network) node and corresponding processing latency. Insome aspects, the KPIs can be used to facilitate automated location andrelocation of data in a V2X architecture.

FIG. 12 illustrates processing and storage layers in a MEC and FOGnetwork 1200, according to an example. The illustrated data storage orprocessing hierarchy 1210 relative to the cloud and fog/edge networksallows dynamic reconfiguration of elements to meet latency and dataprocessing parameters.

The lowest hierarchy level is on a vehicle-level. This level stores dataon past observations or data obtained from other vehicles. The secondhierarchy level is distributed storage across a number of vehicles. Thisdistributed storage may change on short notice depending on vehicleproximity to each other or a target location (e.g., near an accident).The third hierarchy level is in a local anchor point, such as a MECcomponent, carried by a vehicle in order to coordinate vehicles in apool of cars. The fourth level of hierarchy is storage shared across MECcomponents. For example, data is shared between distinct pools ofvehicles that are in range of each other.

The fifth level of hierarchy is fixed infrastructure storage, such as inRSUs. This level may aggregate data from entities in hierarchy levels1-4. The sixth level of hierarchy is storage across fixedinfrastructure. This level may, for example, be located in the CoreNetwork of a telecommunications network, or an enterprise cloud. Othertypes of layers and layer processing may follow from this example.

FIG. 13 illustrates a MEC architecture 1300 with multiple MEC hostssupporting V2X authorizations using MEC V2X APIs, according to example.Referring to FIG. 13 , the MEC architecture 1300 can include similarcomponents to the MEC architecture 1000 of FIG. 10 . FIG. 13 illustrateslogical connections between various entities of the MEC architecture1300, which architecture is access-agnostic and not dependent on aparticular deployment. In some aspects, MEC app 1026 can be instantiatedwithin MEC host 1002 to perform functionalities associated with a V2Xapplication function (e.g., 1031 in FIG. 10 ). In some aspects, MEC app1026 can be configured to perform the following V2X applicationfunctions: obtaining V2X subscription information for a UE, determiningwhether the UE is authorized to perform V2X communications in responseto a request for V2X services, communicating V2X configurationparameters such as a common set of V2X configuration parameters, and soforth.

In some aspects, the MEC platform 1032 can include a MEC V2X API 1034,which can be used to perform the following functionalities: (a)gathering of V2X relevant information from the 3GPP network for purposesof performing UE authorization for V2X communications (e.g., obtaining alist of V2X authorized UEs, obtaining relevant information about theauthorization based on the UE subscription, and obtaining V2Xconfiguration parameters such as a common set of V2X configurationparameters which can include PC5 configuration parameters); (b) exposureof the information obtained in (a) to MEC apps in the same host or MECapps in other MEC hosts; (c) enablement of MEC apps to communicatesecurely with the V2X-related 3GPP core network logical functions (e.g.,enabling communication between the MEC host and a V2X control functionin the core network); (d) enablement of MEC apps in different MECsystems to communicate securely with each other; and (e) gathering andprocessing information available in other MEC APIs (e.g., gathering andprocessing information obtained from a Radio Network Information (RNI)API, Location API, WLAN API, and other APIs that may be implementedwithin the MEC platform 1032) in order to predict radio networkcongestion, and provide suitable notifications to the UE.

In some aspects, the second MEC host 1004 can also implement a MEC V2XAPI 1302 which can provide an interface to one or more of the appsinstantiated within host 1004, such as MEC app 1005. In this regard,hosts 1004 and 1002 can communicate with each other via the MP3interface as well as the MEC V2X APIs 1302 and 1034. Additionally, oneor more of the apps instantiated within host 1002 can communicate withone or more of the apps instantiated within host 1004 via the MEC V2XAPIs 1302 and 1034 as well as the interface between the hosts 1004 and1002.

In some aspects, each of the MEC hosts 1002 and 1004 can beowned/managed by a different mobile services operator (while it can beoperated directly by a MEC vendor or a third party). In some aspects,MEC applications instantiated on hosts 1002 and 1004 can be used toprovide V2X-related services, and can be operated by the mobile servicesoperator, by a MEC vendor, or by a third party (e.g. OEM, or OEMsupplier, or system integrator).

In some aspects, the MEC V2X APIs 1034 and 1302 can be provided as ageneral middleware service, providing information gathered from vehiclesand other V2X elements, and exposed as a service within the hosts (i.e.,as a RESTful API) for the higher layers (e.g., the MEC apps instantiatedwithin the hosts). In some aspects, the MEC V2X APIs and 34 and 1302 canbe configured to gather information and data from sensors. In thisregard, the deployment of the MEC V2X APIs is ensuring continuity of theservice across different mobile networks, for the same OEM (e.g.,automobile manufacturer). If a standard implementation of a V2X API isintroduced (e.g. by ETSI MEC), this functionality can ensure the samebasic V2X service characteristics for all OEMs in a 5G communicationsystem with MEC functionalities.

In some aspects, MEC apps 1026 and 1005 can use the corresponding MECV2X APIs to retrieve information from the 3GPP network. In some aspects,MEC apps 1026 and 1005 can be configured to host V2X configurationparameters such as PC5 configuration parameters (or a common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters that can be available within a multi-PLMNcommunication environment). The availability of these V2X configurationparameters also in absence of network coverage is ensured by the usageof an Mp3 interface (or another type of interface) between the hosts. Insome aspects, MEC app 1026 can be configured to connect to MEC host 1004(through V2X MEC API 1302 in MEC host 1004), and MEC app 1005 can beconfigured to connect to MEC Host 1002 (through V2X MEC API 1034 in MEChost 1002). In case of a multi-operator architecture, multiple MEC hostscan be configured to communicate with each other via the MEC V2X APIsand synchronize in order to transfer the relevant V2X configurationparameters, so that they can be available across the multi-operatorarchitecture in absence of cellular coverage (e.g., outside of the 3GPPdomain). In this way, a UE (e.g., 1020) can have access to V2Xconfiguration parameters even when the UE is not under coverage of its3GPP network.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example communication between a UE applicationand an MEC application running on a MEC host, according to an example.Referring to FIG. 14 , the MEC based communication architecture 1400includes the MEC host 1002 coupled in a distributed core networkconfiguration, similar to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1C. Morespecifically, a UE 1020 can be coupled to a radio access networkrepresented by eNB 1402. The eNB 1402 can be coupled to a distributedcore network 1404 and a centralized core network 1406. The distributedcore network 1404 can provide communication path to remote applicationserver 1410 hosting remote applications (e.g., app 1412), via the MEChost 1002 and the network 1408.

In some aspects, UE app 1018 running on a UE 1020 (which can be locatedwithin a moving vehicle) can request instantiation of a MEC app (e.g.,1026) at MEC host 1002, for purposes of performing V2X applicationfunctionalities associated with V2X functions described herein. Morespecifically, the UE app 1018 can send a MEC app instantiation request1414 to the MEC system (reached logically via Mx2 interface in the UserApp LCM Proxy 1014). The physical connection between UE and MEC systemcan be realized via the eNB 1402 the distributed core network 1404 andthe SGi interface (coupling MEC host 1002 with the distributed corenetwork 1404). The MEC app instantiation request 1414 is sent to the MECsystem through the User App LCM Proxy 1014 and managed by the OSS (1012)and the MEC orchestrator (1010), depicted in FIG. 13 . Instead, usetraffic can be received at the MEC host 1002 via the data plane 1024 ofthe virtualization infrastructure 1022 (e.g., see FIG. 14 ). In responseto request from the UE to instantiate a MEC app, the MEC orchestratoridentifies a proper MEC host 1002 able to instantiate MEC app 1026 toperform V2X application functions 1031, as discussed in connection withFIG. 10 and FIG. 13 . Once a MEC app is instantiated, the communicationbetween the UE app 1018 and the MEC app is performed via the SGiinterface and the distributed core network 1404. In some aspects, inlieu of direct communication between the UE app 1018 and the User AppLCM Proxy 1014, the MEC app 1026 can be instantiated based onconfiguration (done by the network operator) triggered by the OSS 1012.

FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of a method 1500 for V2X communications,according to an example. The method 1500 includes operations 1502, 1504,1506, and 1508. By way of example and not limitation, the method 1500 isdescribed as being performed by UE device 308 or 1020 (which can be thesame as IoT device 1950 of FIG. 19 ). At operation 1502, radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling or network access stratum (NAS) signalingincluding a network address of a service coordinating entity can bedecoded. For example, UE 308 can receive signaling with addressinformation 342 of the MEC host 302 within PLMN A. At operation 1504, anauthorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication istransmitted to a V2X application function within the servicecoordinating entity, the request transmitted via a first access networkand using the network address. For example, UE 308 can transmit the V2Xauthorization request 344 to the MEC host 302 using the addressinformation 342, where the MEC host 302 can instantiate a MEC app (e.g.,1026) acting as a V2X application function. At operation 1506, V2Xconfiguration parameters 348 received from the service coordinatingentity (e.g., MEC host 302), via the first access network. For example,the V2X configuration parameters 348 are received from the MEC host 302in response to the authorization request 344 and further based on V2Xsubscription information 346. The V2X subscription information 346 isreceived by the V2X application function (e.g., by the MEC app 1026acting as a V2X application function) via a V2X application programminginterface (e.g., MEC V2X API 1034) within the service coordinatingentity. At operation 1508, a V2X communication link is established forthe V2X communication with a second device based on the V2Xconfiguration parameters, the second device being associated with asecond access network. For example, UE 308 (in PLMN A) can establish acommunication link 340 with UE 326 (in PLMN B) based on the received V2Xconfiguration parameters 348. For example, the V2X configurationparameters 348 can include a common set of PC5 configuration parametersand the communication link 340 can be a communication link using a PC5interface.

Any of the radio links described herein may operate according to any oneor more of the following radio communication technologies and/orstandards including but not limited to: a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) radio communication technology, a General PacketRadio Service (CPRS) radio communication technology, an Enhanced DataRates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, and/or aThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communicationtechnology, for example Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), 3GPP Long Term Evolution(LTE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE Advanced), Code divisionmultiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD),Mobitex, Third Generation (3G), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-SpeedCircuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (Third Generation) (UMTS (3G)), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) (W-CDMA (UMTS)),High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access(HSDPA), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed PacketAccess Plus (HSPA+), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem-Time-Division Duplex (UMTS-TDD), Time Division-Code DivisionMultiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code DivisionMultiple Access (TD-CDMA), 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 8(Pre-4th Generation) (3GPP Rel. 8 (Pre-4G)), 3GPP Rel. 9 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 9), 3GPP Rel. 10 (3rd Generation PartnershipProject Release 10), 3GPP Rel. 11 (3rd Generation Partnership ProjectRelease 11), 3GPP Rel. 12 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release12), 3GPP Rel. 13 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 13), 3GPPRel. 14 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 14), 3GPP Rel. 15(3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 15), 3GPP Rel. 16 (3rdGeneration Partnership Project Release 16), 3GPP Rel. 17 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 17) and subsequent Releases (such as Rel.18, Rel. 19, etc.), 3GPP 5G, 3GPP LTE Extra, LTE-Advanced Pro, LTELicensed-Assisted Access (LAA), MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access(UTRA), Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Long TermEvolution Advanced (4th Generation) (LTE Advanced (4G)), cdmaOne (2G),Code division multiple access 2000 (Third generation) (CDMA2000 (3G)),Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced MobilePhone System (1st Generation) (AMPS (1G)), Total Access CommunicationSystem/Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS/ETACS), DigitalAMPS (2nd Generation) (D-AMPS (2G)), Push-to-talk (PTT), MobileTelephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS),Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), OLT (Norwegian for OffendigLandmobil Telefoni, Public Land Mobile Telephony), MTD (Swedishabbreviation for Mobiltelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D),Public Automated Land Mobile (Autotel/PALM), ARP (Finnish forAutoradiopuhelin, “car radio phone”), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony),High capacity version of NIT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) (Hicap),Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, DataTAC, IntegratedDigital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC).Circuit Switched Data (CSD), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), WidebandIntegrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed MobileAccess (UMA), also referred to as also referred to as 3GPP GenericAccess Network, or GAN standard), Zigbee, Bluetooth®, Wireless GigabitAlliance (WiGig) standard, mmWave standards in general (wireless systemsoperating at 10-300 GHz and above such as WiGig, IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE802.11ay, etc.), technologies operating above 300 GHz and THz bands,(3GPP/LTE based or IEEE 802.11p and other) Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) andVehicle-to-X (V2X) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) andInfrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) communication technologies, 3GPPcellular V2X, DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) communicationsystems such as Intelligent-Transport-Systems and others (typicallyoperating in 5850 MHz to 5925 MHz), the European ITS-G5 system (i.e. theEuropean flavor of IEEE 802.11p based DSRC, including ITS-G5A (i.e.,Operation of ITS-G5 in European ITS frequency bands dedicated to ITS forsafety re-lated applications in the frequency range 5,875 GHz to 5,905GHz), ITS-G5B (i.e., Operation in European ITS frequency bands dedicatedto ITS non-safety applications in the frequency range 5,855 GHz to 5,875GHz), ITS-G5C (i.e., Operation of ITS applications in the frequencyrange 5,470 GHz to 5,725 GHz)), DSRC in Japan in the 700 MHz band(including 715 MHz to 725 MHz), etc.

Aspects described herein can be used in the context of any spectrummanagement scheme including dedicated licensed spectrum, unlicensedspectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as LSA=Licensed Shared Accessin 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and further frequencies andSAS=Spectrum Access System/CBRS=Citizen Broadband Radio System in3.55-3.7 GHz and further frequencies). Applicable spectrum bands includeIMF (International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum as well as othertypes of spectrum/bands, such as bands with national allocation(including 450-470 MHz, 902-928 MHz (note: allocated for example in US(FCC Part 15)), 863-868.6 MHz (note: allocated for example in EuropeanUnion (ETSI EN 300 220)), 915.9-929.7 MHz (note: allocated for examplein Japan), 917-923.5 MHz (note: allocated for example in South Korea),755-779 MHz and 779-787 MHz (note: allocated for example in China),790-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz, 2300-2400 MHz, 2.4-2.4835 GHz(note: it is an ISM band with global availability and it is used byWi-Fi technology family (11b/g/n/ax) and also by Bluetooth), 2500-2690MHz, 698-790 MHz, 610-790 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, 3400-3800 MHz, 3.55-3.7GHz (note: allocated for example in the US for Citizen Broadband RadioService), 5.15-525 GHz and 5.25-5.35 GHz and 5.47-5.725 GHz and5.725-5.85 GHz bands (note: allocated for example in the US (FCC part15), consists four U-NII bands in total 500 MHz spectrum), 5.725-5.875GEL (note: allocated for example in EU (ETSI EN 301 893)), 5.47-5.65 GHz(note: allocated for example in South Korea, 5925-7125 MHz and 5925-6425MHz band (note: under consideration in US and EU, respectively),IMT-advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800MHz, 3.5 GHz bands, 700 MHz bands, bands within the 24.25-86 GHz range,etc.), spectrum made available under FCC's “Spectrum Frontier” 5Ginitiative (including 27.5-28.35 GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, 31-31.3 GHz,37-38.6 GHz, 38.6-40 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz, 57-64 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHzand 92-94 GHz, etc), the ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) band of 5.9GHz (typically 5.85-5.925 GHz) and 63-64 GHz, bands currently allocatedto WiGig such as WiGig Band 1 (57.24-59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2(59.40-61.56 GHz) and WiGig Band 3 (61.56-63.72 GHz) and WiGig Band 4(63.72-65.88 GHz), 57-64/66 GHz (e.g., having near-global designationfor Multi-Gigabit Wireless Systems (MGWS)/WiGig; in US (FCC part 15)allocated as total 14 GHz spectrum, while EU (ETSI EN 302 567 and ETSIEN 301 217-2 for fixed P2P) allocated as total 9 GHz spectrum), the 70.2GHz-71 GHz band, any band between 65.88 GHz and 71 GHz, bands currentlyallocated to automotive radar applications such as 76-81 GHz, and futurebands including 94-300 GHz and above. Furthermore, the scheme can beused on a secondary basis on bands such as the TV White Space bands(typically below 790 MHz) where in particular the 400 MHz and 700 MHzbands are promising candidates. Besides cellular applications, specificapplications for vertical markets may be addressed such as PMSE (ProgramMaking and Special Events), medical, health, surgery, automotive,low-latency, drones, etc. applications.

Aspects described herein can also implement a hierarchical applicationof the scheme by, e.g., introducing a hierarchical prioritization ofusage for different types of users (e.g., low/medium/high priority,etc.), based on a prioritized access to the spectrum e.g. with highestpriority to tier-1 users, followed by tier-2, then tier-3 users, and soforth.

Aspects described herein can also be applied to different Single Carrieror OFDM flavors (CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-basedmulticarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, etc.) and in particular 3GPP NR (New Radio)by allocating the OFDM carrier data bit vectors to the correspondingsymbol resources. Some of the features in this document are defined forthe network side, such as Access Points, eNodeBs, New Radio (NR) or nextgeneration Node-Bs (gNodeB or gNB), such as used in the context of 3GPPfifth generation (5G) communication systems, etc. Still, a UserEquipment (UE) may take this role as well and act as an Access Points,eNodeBs, gNodeBs, etc. Accordingly, some or all features defined fornetwork equipment may be implemented by a UE or a mobile computingdevice.

In further examples, the preceding examples of network communicationsand operations may be integrated with IoT and like device-based networkarchitectures. FIG. 16 illustrates an example domain topology forrespective IoT networks coupled through links to respective gateways.The IoT is a concept in which a large number of computing devices areinterconnected to each other and to the Internet to providefunctionality and data acquisition at very low levels. Thus, as usedherein, an IoT device may include a semiautonomous device performing afunction, such as sensing or control, among others, in communicationwith other IoT devices and a wider network, such as the Internet.

MEC use cases have been envisioned to integrate into a number of networkand application settings, including those to support networkarrangements of IoT deployments. IoT devices are physical or virtualizedobjects that may communicate on a network (typically at the edge orendpoint of a network), and may include sensors, actuators, and otherinput/output components, such as to collect data or perform actions froma real-world environment. For example, IoT devices may includelow-powered devices that are embedded or attached to everyday things,such as buildings, vehicles, packages, etc. to provide sensor, data, orprocessing functionality. Recently, devices have become more popular andthus applications and use cases using these devices have proliferated.

Various standards have been proposed to more effectively interconnectand operate IoT devices and IoT network use cases, including those withMEC and mobile network architectures. Some of the relevant communicationand network architecture standards include those distributed by groupssuch as ETSI, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in addition to specializedIoT application interaction architecture and configuration standardsdistributed by working groups such as the Open Connectivity Foundation(OCF).

Often, IoT devices are limited in memory, size, or functionality,enabling larger numbers to be deployed for a similar cost to smallernumbers of larger devices. However, an IoT device may be a smart phone,laptop, tablet, PC, or other larger device. Further, an IoT device maybe a virtual device, such as an application on a smart phone or othercomputing device. IoT devices may include IoT gateways, used to coupleIoT devices to other IoT devices and to cloud applications, for datastorage, process control, and the like.

Networks of IoT devices may include commercial and home automationdevices, such as water distribution systems, electric power distributionsystems, pipeline control systems, plant control systems, lightswitches, thermostats, locks, cameras, alarms, motion sensors, and thelike. The IoT devices may be accessible through remote computers,servers, and other systems, for example, to control systems or accessdata.

The future growth of the Internet and like networks may involve verylarge numbers of IoT devices. Accordingly, in the context of thetechniques discussed herein, a number of innovations for such futurenetworking will address the need for all these layers to growunhindered, to discover and make accessible connected resources, and tosupport the ability to hide and compartmentalize connected resources.Any number of network protocols and communications standards may beused, wherein each protocol and standard is designed to address specificobjectives. Further, the protocols are part of the fabric supportinghuman accessible services that operate regardless of location, time orspace. The innovations include service delivery and associatedinfrastructure, such as hardware and software; security enhancements;and the provision of services based on Quality of Service (QoS) termsspecified in service level and service delivery agreements. As will beunderstood, the use of IoT devices and networks present a number of newchallenges in a heterogeneous network of connectivity comprising acombination of wired and wireless technologies.

FIG. 16 specifically provides a simplified drawing of a domain topologythat may be used for a number of IoT networks comprising IoT devices1604, with the IoT networks 1656, 1658, 1660, 1662, coupled throughbackbone links 1602 to respective gateways 1654. For example, a numberof IoT devices 1604 may communicate with a gateway 1654, and with eachother through the gateway 1654. To simplify the drawing, not every IoTdevice 1604, or communications link (e.g., link 1616, 1622, 1628, or1632) is labeled. The backbone links 1602 may include any number ofwired or wireless technologies, including optical networks, and may bepart of a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or theInternet. Additionally, such communication links facilitate opticalsignal paths among both IoT devices 1604 and gateways 1654, includingthe use of MUXing/deMUXing components that facilitate interconnection ofthe various devices.

The network topology may include any number of types of IoT networks,such as a mesh network provided with the network 1656 using Bluetoothlow energy (BLE) links 1622. Other types of IoT networks that may bepresent include a wireless local area network (WLAN) network 1658 usedto communicate with IoT devices 1604 through IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fig) links1628, a cellular network 1660 used to communicate with IoT devices 1604through an LTE/LTE-A (4G) or 5G cellular network, and a low-power widearea (LPWA) network 1662, for example, a LPW network compatible with theLoRaWan specification promulgated by the LoRa alliance, or a IPv6 overLow Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) network compatible with aspecification promulgated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).Further, the respective EDT networks may communicate with an outsidenetwork provider (e.g., a tier 2 or tier 3 provider) using any number ofcommunications links, such as an UE cellular link, an LPWA link, or alink based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, such as Zigbee®. Therespective IoT networks may also operate with use of a variety ofnetwork and internet application protocols such as ConstrainedApplication Protocol (CoAP). The respective IoT networks may also beintegrated with coordinator devices that provide a chain of links thatforms cluster tree of linked devices and networks.

Each of these IoT networks may provide opportunities for new technicalfeatures, such as those as described herein. The improved technologiesand networks may enable the exponential growth of devices and networks,including the use of IoT networks into fog devices or systems. As theuse of such improved technologies grows, the IoT networks may bedeveloped for self management, functional evolution, and collaboration,without needing direct human intervention. The improved technologies mayeven enable IoT networks to function without centralized controlledsystems. Accordingly, the improved technologies described herein may beused to automate and enhance network management and operation functionsfar beyond current implementations.

In an example, communications between IoT devices 1604, such as over thebackbone links 1602, may be protected by a decentralized system forauthentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA). In a decentralizedAAA system, distributed payment, credit, audit, authorization, andauthentication systems may be implemented across interconnectedheterogeneous network infrastructure. This enables systems and networksto move towards autonomous operations. In these types of autonomousoperations, machines may even contract for human resources and negotiatepartnerships with other machine networks. This may enable theachievement of mutual objectives and balanced service delivery againstoutlined, planned service level agreements as well as achieve solutionsthat provide metering, measurements, traceability and trackability. Thecreation of new supply chain structures and methods may enable amultitude of services to be created, mined for value, and collapsedwithout any human involvement.

Such networks may be further enhanced by the integration of sensingtechnologies, such as sound, light, electronic traffic, facial andpattern recognition, smell, vibration, into the autonomous organizationsamong the IoT devices. The integration of sensory systems may enablesystematic and autonomous communication and coordination of servicedelivery against contractual service objectives, orchestration andQoS-based swarming and fusion of resources. Some of the individualexamples of network-based resource processing include the following.

The mesh network 1656, for instance, may be enhanced by systems thatperform inline data-to-information transforms. For example, self-formingchains of processing resources comprising a multi-link network maydistribute the transformation of raw data to information in an efficientmanner, and the ability to differentiate between assets and resourcesand the associated management of each. Furthermore, the propercomponents of infrastructure and resource-based trust and serviceindices may be inserted to improve the data integrity, quality,assurance and deliver a metric of data confidence.

The WLAN network 1658, for instance, may use systems that performstandards conversion to provide multi-standard connectivity, enablingIoT devices 1604 using different protocols to communicate. Furthersystems may provide seamless interconnectivity across a multi-standardinfrastructure comprising visible Internet resources and hidden Internetresources.

Communications in the cellular network 1660, for instance, may beenhanced by systems that offload data, extend communications to moreremote devices, or both. The LPWA network 1662 may include systems thatperform non-Internet protocol (IP) to IP interconnections, addressing,and routing. Further, each of the IoT devices 1604 may include theappropriate transceiver for wide area communications with that device.Further, each IoT device 1604 may include other transceivers forcommunications using additional protocols and frequencies. This isdiscussed further with respect to the communication environment andhardware of an IoT processing device depicted in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 .

Finally, clusters of IoT devices may be equipped to communicate withother IoT devices as well as with a cloud network. This may enable theIoT devices to form an ad-hoc network between the devices, enabling themto function as a single device, which may be termed a fog device, fogplatform, or fog network. This configuration is discussed further withrespect to FIG. 17 below.

FIG. 17 illustrates a cloud computing network in communication with amesh network of IoT devices (devices 1702) operating as a fog platformin a networked scenario. The mesh network of IoT devices may be termed afog network 1720, established from a network of devices operating at theedge of the cloud 1700. To simplify the diagram, not every IoT device1702 is labeled.

The fog network 1720 may be considered to be a massively interconnectednetwork wherein a number of IoT devices 1702 are in communications witheach other, for example, by radio links 1722. The fog network 1720 mayestablish a horizontal, physical, or virtual resource platform that canbe considered to reside between IoT edge devices and cloud or datacenters. A fog network, in some examples, may supportvertically-isolated, latency-sensitive applications through layered,federated, or distributed computing, storage, and network connectivityoperations. However, a fog network may also be used to distributeresources and services at and among the edge and the cloud. Thus,references in the present document to the “edge”, “fog”, and “cloud” arenot necessarily discrete or exclusive of one another.

As an example, the fog network 1720 may be facilitated using aninterconnect specification released by the Open Connectivity Foundation(OCF). This standard enables devices to discover each other andestablish communications for interconnects. Other interconnectionprotocols may also be used, including, for example, the optimized linkstate routing (OLSR) Protocol, the better approach to mobile ad-hocnetworking (B.A.T.M.A.N.) routing protocol, or the OMA Lightweight M2M(LWM2M) protocol, among others.

Three types of IoT devices 1702 are shown in this example, gateways1704, data aggregators 1726, and sensors 1728, although any combinationsof IoT devices 1702 and functionality may be used. The gateways 1704 maybe edge devices that provide communications between the cloud 1700 andthe fog 1720 and may also provide the backend process function for dataobtained from sensors 1728, such as motion data, flow data, temperaturedata, and the like. The data aggregators 1726 may collect data from anynumber of the sensors 1728 and perform the back-end processing functionfor the analysis. The results, raw data, or both may be passed along tothe cloud 1700 through the gateways 1704. The sensors 1728 may be fullIoT devices 1702, for example, capable of both collecting data andprocessing the data. In some cases, the sensors 1728 may be more limitedin functionality, for example, collecting the data and enabling the dataaggregators 1726 or gateways 1704 to process the data.

Communications from any IoT device 1702 may be passed along a convenientpath (e.g., a most convenient path) between any of the IoT devices 1702to reach the gateways 1704. In these networks, the number ofinterconnections provide substantial redundancy, enabling communicationsto be maintained, even with the loss of a number of IoT devices 1702.Further, the use of a mesh network may enable IoT devices 1702 that arevery low power or located at a distance from infrastructure to be used,as the range to connect to another IoT device 1702 may be much less thanthe range to connect to the gateways 1704.

The fog 1720 provided from these IoT devices 1702 may be presented todevices in the cloud 1700, such as a server 1706, as a single devicelocated at the edge of the cloud 1700, e.g., a fog device. In thisexample, the alerts coming from the fog device may be sent without beingidentified as coming from a specific IoT device 1702 within the fog1720. In this fashion, the fog 1720 may be considered a distributedplatform that provides computing and storage resources to performprocessing or data-intensive tasks such as data analytics, dataaggregation, and machine-learning, among others.

In some examples, the IoT devices 1702 may be configured using animperative programming style, e.g., with each IoT device 1702 having aspecific function and communication partners. However, the IoT devices1702 forming the fog device may be configured in a declarativeprogramming style, enabling the IoT devices 1702 to reconfigure theiroperations and communications, such as to determine needed resources inresponse to conditions, queries, and device failures. As an example, aquery from a user located at a server 1706 about the operations of asubset of equipment monitored by the IoT devices 1702 may result in thefog 1720 device selecting the IoT devices 1702, such as particularsensors 1728, needed to answer the query. The data from these sensors1728 may then be aggregated and analyzed by any combination of thesensors 1728, data aggregators 1726, or gateways 1704, before being senton by the fog 1720 device to the server 1706 to answer the query. Inthis example, IoT devices 1702 in the fog 1720 may select the sensors1728 used based on the query, such as adding data from flow sensors ortemperature sensors. Further, if some of the IoT devices 1702 are notoperational, other IoT devices 1702 in the fog 1720 device may provideanalogous data, if available.

In other examples, the operations and functionality described above maybe embodied by an IoT device machine in the example form of anelectronic processing system, within which a set or sequence ofinstructions may be executed to cause the electronic processing systemto perform any one of the methodologies discussed herein, according toan example embodiment. The machine may be an IoT device or an IoTgateway, including a machine embodied by aspects of a personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone or smartphone, or any machine capable of executinginstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine.

Further, these and like examples to a processor-based system shall betaken to include any set of one or more machines that are controlled byor operated by a processor, set of processors, or processing circuitry(e.g., a machine in the form of a computer, LTE, MEC processing device,IoT processing device, etc.) to individually or jointly executeinstructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein. Accordingly, in various examples, applicable means forprocessing (e.g., processing, controlling, generating, evaluating, etc.)may be embodied by such processing circuitry.

FIG. 18 illustrates a drawing of a cloud computing network, or cloud1800, in communication with a number of IoT devices. The cloud computingnetwork (or “cloud”) 1800 may represent the Internet or may be a localarea network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN), such as a proprietarynetwork for a company. The IoT devices may include any number ofdifferent types of devices, grouped in various combinations. Forexample, a traffic control group 1806 may include IoT devices alongstreets in a city. These IoT devices may include stoplights, trafficflow monitors, cameras, weather sensors, and the like. The trafficcontrol group 1806, or other subgroups, may be in communication with thecloud 1800 through wired or wireless links 1808, such as LPWA links,optical links, and the like. Further, a wired or wireless sub-network1812 may allow the IoT devices to communicate with each other, such asthrough a local area network, a wireless local area network, and thelike. The IoT devices may use another device, such as a gateway 1810 or1828 to communicate with remote locations such as the cloud 1800; theIoT devices may also use one or more servers 1830 to facilitatecommunication with the cloud 1800 or with the gateway 1810. For example,the one or more servers 1830 may operate as an intermediate network nodeto support a local edge cloud or fog implementation among a local areanetwork. Further, the gateway 1828 that is depicted may operate in acloud-to-gateway-to-many edge devices configuration, such as with thevarious IoT devices 1814, 1820, 1824 being constrained or dynamic to anassignment and use of resources in the cloud 1800.

Other example groups of IoT devices may include remote weather stations1814, local information terminals 1816, alarm systems 1818, automatedteller machines 1820, alarm panels 1822, or moving vehicles, such asemergency vehicles 1824 or other vehicles 1826, among many others. Eachof these IoT devices may be in communication with other IoT devices,with servers 1804, with another IoT fog platform or system, or acombination therein. The groups of IoT devices may be deployed invarious residential, commercial, and industrial settings (including inboth private or public environments).

As may be seen from FIG. 18 , a large number of IoT devices may becommunicating through the cloud 1800. This may allow different IoTdevices to request or provide information to other devices autonomously.For example, a group of IoT devices (e.g., the traffic control group1806) may request a current weather forecast from a group of remoteweather stations 1814, which may provide the forecast without humanintervention. Further, an emergency vehicle 1824 may be alerted by anautomated teller machine 1820 that a burglary is in progress. As theemergency vehicle 1824 proceeds towards the automated teller machine1820, it may access the traffic control group 1806 to request clearanceto the location, for example, by lights turning red to block crosstraffic at an intersection in sufficient time for the emergency vehicle1824 to have unimpeded access to the intersection.

Clusters of IoT devices, such as the remote weather stations 1814 or thetraffic control group 1806, may be equipped to communicate with otherIoT devices as well as with the cloud 1800. This may allow the IoTdevices to form an ad-hoc network between the devices, allowing them tofunction as a single device, which may be termed a fog platform orsystem (e.g., as described above with reference to FIG. 17 ).

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of an example of components that may bepresent in an IoT device 1950 for implementing the techniques describedherein. The IoT device 1950 may include any combinations of thecomponents shown in the example or referenced in the disclosure above.The components may be implemented as ICs, portions thereof, discreteelectronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software,firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the IoT device 1950, or ascomponents otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system.Additionally, the block diagram of FIG. 19 is intended to depict ahigh-level view of components of the IoT device 1950. However, some ofthe components shown may be omitted, additional components may bepresent, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur inother implementations.

The IoT device 1950 may include processing circuitry in the form of aprocessor 1952, which may be a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, or other known processing elements. The processor 1952 may bea part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the processor 1952 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel. As anexample, the processor 1952 may include an Intel® Architecture Core™based processor, such as a Quark™, an Atom™, air i3, an i5, an i7, or anMCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel®Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. However, any number other processorsmay be used, such as available from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)of Sunnyvale, Calif., a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc.of Sunnyvale, Calif., an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings,Ltd. or customer thereof, or their licensees or adopters. The processorsmay include units such as an A5-A10 processor from Apple® Inc., aSnapdragon™ processor from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., or an OMAP™processor from Texas Instruments, Inc.

The processor 1952 may communicate with a system memory 1954 over aninterconnect 1956 (e.g., a bus). Any number of memory devices may beused to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, thememory may be random access memory (RAM) in accordance with a JointElectron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) design such as the DDR ormobile DDR standards (e.g., LPDDR, LPDDR2, LPDDR3, or LPDDR4). Invarious implementations the individual memory devices may be of anynumber of different package types such as single die package (SDP), dualdie package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P). These devices, in someexamples, may be directly soldered onto a motherboard to provide a lowerprofile solution, while in other examples the devices are configured asone or more memory modules that in turn couple to the motherboard by agiven connector. Any number of other memory implementations may be used,such as other types of memory modules, e.g., dual inline memory modules(DIMMs) of different varieties including but not limited to microDIMMsor MiniDIMMs.

To provide for persistent storage of information such as data,applications, operating systems and so forth, a storage 1958 may alsocouple to the processor 1952 via the interconnect 1956. In an examplethe storage 1958 may be implemented via a solid-state disk drive (SSDD).Other devices that may be used for the storage 1958 include flash memorycards, such as SD cards, microSD cards, XD picture cards, and the like,and USB flash drives. In low power implementations, the storage 1958 maybe on-die memory or registers associated with the processor 1952.However, in some examples, the storage 1958 may be implemented using amicro hard disk drive (HDD). Further, any number of new technologies maybe used for the storage 1958 in addition to, or instead of, thetechnologies described, such resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others.

The components may communicate over the interconnect 1956. Theinterconnect 1956 may include any number of technologies, includingindustry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheralcomponent interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended(PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. Theinterconnect 1956 may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoCbased system. Other bus systems may be included, such as an I2Cinterface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus,among others.

The interconnect 1956 may couple the processor 1952 to a meshtransceiver 1962, for communications with other mesh devices 1964. Themesh transceiver 1962 may use any number of frequencies and protocols,such as 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz) transmissions under the IEEE 802.15.4standard, using the Bluetooth® low energy (BLE) standard, as defined bythe Bluetooth® Special Interest Group, or the ZigBee® standard, amongothers. Any number of radios, configured for a particular wirelesscommunication protocol, may be used for the connections to the meshdevices 1964. For example, a WLAN unit may be used to implement Wi-Fi™communications in accordance with the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. In addition, wireless widearea communications, e.g., according to a cellular or other wirelesswide area protocol, may occur via a WWAN unit.

The mesh transceiver 1962 may communicate using multiple standards orradios for communications at different range. For example, the IoTdevice 1950 may communicate with close devices, e.g., within about 10meters, using a local transceiver based on BLE, or another low powerradio, to save power. More distant mesh devices 1964, e.g., within about50 meters, may be reached over ZigBee or other intermediate powerradios. Both communications techniques may take place over a singleradio at different power levels, or may take place over separatetransceivers, for example, a local transceiver using BLE and a separatemesh transceiver using ZigBee.

A wireless network transceiver 1966 may be included to communicate withdevices or services in the cloud 1900 via local or wide area networkprotocols. The wireless network transceiver 1966 may be a LPWAtransceiver that follows the IEEE 802.15.4, or IEEE 802.15.4g standards,among others. The IoT device 1950 may communicate over a wide area usingLoRaWAN™ (Long Range Wide Area Network) developed by Semtech and theLoRa Alliance. The techniques described herein are not limited to thesetechnologies but may be used with any number of other cloud transceiversthat implement long range, low bandwidth communications, such as Sigfox,and other technologies. Further, other communications techniques, suchas time-slotted channel hopping, described in the IEEE 802.15.4especification may be used.

Any number of other radio communications and protocols may be used inaddition to the systems mentioned for the mesh transceiver 1962 andwireless network transceiver 1966, as described herein. For example, theradio transceivers 1962 and 1966 may include an LTE or other cellulartransceiver that uses spread spectrum (SPA/SAS) communications forimplementing high speed communications. Further, any number of otherprotocols may be used, such as Wi-Fi® networks for medium speedcommunications and provision of network communications.

The radio transceivers 1962 and 1966 may include radios that arecompatible with any number of 3GPP (Third Generation PartnershipProject) specifications, notably Long Term Evolution (LTE), Long TermEvolution-Advanced (LTE-A), and Long Term Evolution-Advanced Pro (LTE-APro). It may be noted that radios compatible with any number of otherfixed, mobile, or satellite communication technologies and standards maybe selected. These may include, for example, any Cellular Wide Arearadio communication technology, which may include e.g. a 5th Generation(5G) communication systems, a Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM) radio communication technology, a General Packet Radio Service(CPRS) radio communication technology, or an Enhanced Data Rates for GSMEvolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, a UNITS (UniversalMobile Telecommunications System) communication technology. In additionto the standards listed above, any number of satellite uplinktechnologies may be used for the wireless network transceiver 1966,including, for example, radios compliant with standards issued by theITU (International Telecommunication Union), or the ETSI (EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute), among others. The examplesprovided herein are thus understood as being applicable to various othercommunication technologies, both existing and not yet formulated.

A network interface controller (NIC) 1968 may be included to provide awired communication to the cloud 1900 or to other devices, such as themesh devices 1964. The wired communication may provide an Ethernetconnection, or may be based on other types of networks, such asController Area Network (CAN), Local Interconnect Network (LIN),DeviceNet, ControlNet, Data Highway+, PROFIBUS, or PROFINET, among manyothers. An additional NIC 1968 may be included to enable connect to asecond network, for example, a NIC 1968 providing communications to thecloud over Ethernet, and a second NIC 1968 providing communications toother devices over another type of network.

Given the variety of types of applicable communications from the deviceto another component or network, applicable communications circuitryused by the device may include or be embodied by any one or more ofcomponents 1962, 1966, 1968, or 1970. Accordingly, in various examples,applicable means for communicating (e.g., receiving, transmitting, etc.)may be embodied by such communications circuitry.

The interconnect 1956 may couple the processor 1952 to an externalinterface 1970 that is used to connect external devices or subsystems.The external devices may include sensors 1972, such as accelerometers,level sensors, flow sensors, optical light sensors, camera sensors,temperature sensors, a global positioning system (GPS) sensors, pressuresensors, barometric pressure sensors, and the like. The externalinterface 1970 further may be used to connect the IoT device 1950 toactuators 1974, such as power switches, valve actuators, an audiblesound generator, a visual warning device, and the like.

In some optional examples, various input/output (I/O) devices may bepresent within, or connected to, the IoT device 1950. For example, adisplay or other output device 1984 may be included to show information,such as sensor readings or actuator position. An input device 1986, suchas a touch screen or keypad may be included to accept input. An outputdevice 1984 may include any number of forms of audio or visual display,including simple visual outputs such as binary status indicators (e.g.,LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs suchas display screens (e.g., LCD screens), with the output of characters,graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or producedfrom the operation of the IoT device 1950.

A battery 1976 may power the IoT device 1950, although in examples inwhich the IoT device 1950 is mounted in a fixed location, it may have apower supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1976 may be alithium ion battery, or a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery,an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.

A battery monitor/charger 1978 may be included in the IoT device 1950 totrack the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1976. The batterymonitor/charger 1978 may be used to monitor other parameters of thebattery 1976 to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health(SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery 1976. The batterymonitor/charger 1978 may include a battery monitoring integratedcircuit, such as an LTC4020 or an LTC2990 from Linear Technologies, anADT7488A from ON Semiconductor of Phoenix Ariz., or an IC from theUCD90xxx family from Texas Instruments of Dallas, Tex. The batterymonitor/charger 1978 may communicate the information on the battery 1976to the processor 1952 over the interconnect 1956. The batterymonitor/charger 1978 may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC)convertor that enables the processor 1952 to directly monitor thevoltage of the battery 1976 or the current flow from the battery 1976.The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the IoTdevice 1950 may perform, such as transmission frequency, mesh networkoperation, sensing frequency, and the like.

A power block 1980, or other power supply coupled to a grid, may becoupled with the battery monitor/charger 1978 to charge the battery1976. In some examples, the power block 1980 may be replaced with awireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example,through a loop antenna in the device 1950. A wireless battery chargingcircuit, such as an LTC4020 chip from Linear Technologies of Milpitas,Calif., among others, may be included in the battery monitor/charger1978. The specific charging circuits may be selected based on the sizeof the battery 1976, and thus, the current required. The charging may beperformed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the AirfuelAlliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the WirelessPower Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard, promulgated by theAlliance for Wireless Power, among others.

The storage 1958 may include instructions 1982 in the form of software,firmware, or hardware commands to implement the techniques describedherein. Although such instructions 1982 are shown as code blocksincluded in the memory 1954 and the storage 1958, it may be understoodthat any of the code blocks may be replaced with hardwired circuits, forexample, built into an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

In an example, the instructions 1982 provided via the memory 1954, thestorage 1958, or the processor 1952 may be embodied as a non-transitory,machine readable medium 1960 including code to direct the processor 1952to perform electronic operations in the IoT device 1950. The processor1952 may access the non-transitory, machine readable medium 1960 overthe interconnect 1956. For instance, the non-transitory,machine-readable medium 1960 may be embodied by devices described forthe storage 1958 or may include specific storage units such as opticaldisks, flash drives, or any number of other hardware devices. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable medium 1960 may include instructions todirect the processor 1952 to perform a specific sequence or flow ofactions, for example, as described with respect to the flowchart(s) andblock diagram(s) of operations and functionality depicted above. As usedin, the terms “machine-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium”are interchangeable.

In further examples, a machine-readable medium also includes anytangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carryinginstructions for execution by a machine and that cause the machine toperform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosureor that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structuresutilized by or associated with such instructions. A “machine-readablemedium” thus may include, but is not limited to, solid-state memories,and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readablemedia include non-volatile memory, including but not limited to, by wayof example, semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electricallyprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The instructionsembodied by a machine-readable medium may further be transmitted orreceived over a communications network using a transmission medium via anetwork interface device utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols (e.g., HTTP).

It should be understood that the functional units or capabilitiesdescribed in this specification may have been referred to or labeled ascomponents or modules, in order to more particularly emphasize theirimplementation independence. Such components may be embodied by anynumber of software or hardware forms. For example, a component or modulemay be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising customvery-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A component or module may also be implemented inprogrammable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays,programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like.Components or modules may also be implemented in software for executionby various types of processors. An identified component or module ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified component or module need not be physicallylocated together but may comprise disparate instructions stored indifferent locations which, when joined logically together, comprise thecomponent or module and achieve the stated purpose for the component ormodule.

Indeed, a component or module of executable code may be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory devices or processing systems. In particular, someaspects of the described process (such as code rewriting and codeanalysis) may take place on a different processing system (e.g., in acomputer in a data center) than that in which the code is deployed(e.g., in a computer embedded in a sensor or robot). Similarly,operational data may be identified and illustrated herein withincomponents or modules and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork. The components or modules may be passive or active, includingagents operable to perform desired functions.

Additional examples of the presently described method, system, anddevice embodiments include the following, non-limiting configurations.Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand on its own or maybe combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more ofthe other examples provided below or throughout the present disclosure.

Example 1 is a device, comprising: communications circuitry tocommunicate with a first access network; processing circuitry; and amemory device including instructions embodied thereon, wherein theinstructions, which when executed by the processing circuitry, configurethe processing circuitry to perform operations to: transmit anauthorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication toa V2X application function within a service coordinating entity, therequest transmitted from the device via the first access network;receive V2X configuration parameters from the service coordinatingentity, via the first access network, wherein the V2X configurationparameters are received in response to the authorization request andbased on V2X subscription information received by the V2X applicationfunction via a V2X application programming interface (API) within theservice coordinating entity; and establish a V2X communication link forthe V2X communication with a second device based on the V2Xconfiguration parameters, the second device associated with a secondaccess network.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, wherein the V2Xcommunication link is a communication link using a PC5 interface, andthe V2X, configuration parameters comprise PC5 configuration parametersfor the PC5 interface.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 includes, wherein theservice coordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)entity, and the V2X API is a MEC V2X API within a MEC platform of theMEC entity.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, theoperations further to: receive the V2X communication parameterssubsequent to a verification the device is authorized to perform the V2Xcommunication, the verification based on a device subscriptioninformation received by the V2X application function via the V2X API.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes, wherein theV2X configuration parameters comprise PC5 configuration parameters thatare common to the first access network and the second access network.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, theoperations further to: decode radio resource control (RRC) signaling ornetwork access stratum (NAS) signaling including a network address ofthe service coordinating entity; and transmit the authorization requestusing the network address.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes, wherein thedevice is included in a first vehicle moving within an operational areaof the first access network, and the second device is included in asecond vehicle moving within an operational area of the second accessnetwork.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 includes, wherein thedevice is a mobile computing device, and wherein the servicecoordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) host runninga MEC application providing the V2X application function.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 1-8 includes, wherein thefirst and second access networks are 5G wireless networks operatingaccording to a 3GPP standards family.

Example 10 is a device of a service coordinating entity, comprising:communications circuitry to communicate with a first access network;processing circuitry; and a memory device including instructionsembodied thereon, wherein the instructions, which when executed by theprocessing circuitry, configure the processing circuitry to performoperations to: receive by a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applicationfunction of the service coordinating entity, an authorization requestfor a V2X: communication, the authorization request received from amobile computing device via the first access network; receive by the V2Xapplication function and via a V2X application programming interface(API) between the service coordinating entity and the first accessnetwork, device subscription information indicating devices authorizedto perform the V2X communication within the first access network;perform authorization of the mobile computing device for the V2Xcommunication based on the device subscription information; and based onthe performed authorization, encode for transmission to the mobilecomputing device, V2X configuration parameters for establishing a V2Xcommunication link of the V2X communication.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Example 10 includes, wherein theV2X application function is a mobile edge application running on avirtual machine within the service coordinating entity.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Examples 10-11 includes, whereinthe service coordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)host running a MEC application providing the V2X application function,and the V2X API is a MEC V2X API within a MEC platform of the MEC host.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 10-12 includes, theoperations further to: receive the authorization request via an Mp1interface between the V2X API and the V2X application function.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 10-13 includes, whereinthe first access network is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, andthe operations further to: receive the device subscription informationfrom a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) of the EPC network.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 10-14 includes, whereinthe first access network is a Fifth Generation (5G) network, and theoperations further to: receive the device subscription information froma Network Exposure Function (FIEF) of the 5G network.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 10-15 includes, whereinthe V2X communication link is a communication link using a PC5interface, and the V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5configuration parameters for the PC5 interface.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 10-16 includes, theoperations further to: receive an indication that the mobile computingdevice is within a service area of a second access network, the servicearea being outside the first access network; and communicate the V2Xconfiguration parameters via the V2X API to a second servicecoordinating entity for forwarding to the mobile computing device viathe second access network; wherein the second service coordinatingentity comprises a second V2X API coupled to the second access network.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 includes, wherein theV2X configuration parameters are forwarded to the mobile computingdevice via an SGi interface of the second access network.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Examples 17-18 includes, theoperations further to: communicate the V2X configuration parameters tothe second service coordinating entity via an Mp3 interface.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Examples 17-19 includes, whereinthe first access network is a first public land mobile network (PLMN) ofa first service provider, the second access network is a second PLMN ofa second service provider, and the operations further to: receive viathe second V2X API of the second service coordinating entity, V2Xconfiguration parameters associated with the second PLMN; and forwardthe V2X, configuration parameters associated with the second PLMN to asecond mobile computing device that is within the first access network,the forwarded V2X communication parameters for establishing a V2Xcommunication link between the second mobile computing device and atleast another device associated with the second PLMN.

In Example 21, the subject matter of Example 20 includes, the operationsfurther to: generate a set of V2X configuration parameters that iscommon to the first PLMN and the second PLMN, based on the received V2Xconfiguration parameters associated with the second PLMN, and encode fortransmission to the mobile computing device, the common set of V2X,configuration parameters for establishing the V2X communication link ofthe V2X communication.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Examples 20-21 includes, theoperations further to: encode for transmission to a service managemententity, the V2X configurations parameters associated with the firstPLMN; decode a common set of V2X configuration parameters from theservice management entity, the common set of V2X parameters being commonto the first PLMN and the second PLMN and based on the V2Xconfigurations parameters associated with the first PLMN and the V2Xconfiguration parameters associated with the second PLMN; and encode fortransmission to the mobile computing device, the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters for establishing the V2X communication link ofthe V2X communication.

Example 23 is a method, performed by a mobile computing device connectedto an access network, the method comprising: transmitting anauthorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication toa V2X application function within a service coordinating entity, therequest transmitted via the first access network; receiving V2Xconfiguration parameters from the service coordinating entity, via thefirst access network, wherein the V2X configuration parameters arereceived in response to the authorization request and based on V2Xsubscription information received by the V2X application function via aV2X application programming interface (API) within the servicecoordinating entity; and establishing a V2X communication link for theV2X communication with a second device based on the V2X configurationparameters, the second device associated with a second access network.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Example 23 includes, decoding radioresource control (RRC) signaling or network access stratum (NAS)signaling including a network address of the service coordinatingentity; and transmitting the authorization request using the networkaddress.

In Example 25, the subject matter of Examples 23-24 includes, whereinthe V2X communication link is a communication link using a PC5interface, and the V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5configuration parameters for the PC5 interface.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Examples 23-25 includes, whereinthe service coordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)entity, and the V2X API is a MEC V2X API within a MEC platform of theMEC entity.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Examples 23-26 includes, receivingthe V2X communication parameters subsequent to a verification the deviceis authorized to perform the V2X communication, the verification basedon a device subscription information received by the V2X applicationfunction via the V2X API.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Examples 23-27 includes, whereinthe V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5 configuration parametersthat are common to the first access network and the second accessnetwork.

In Example 29, the subject matter of Examples 23-28 includes, whereinthe device is included in a first vehicle moving within an operationalarea of the first access network, and the second device is included in asecond vehicle moving within an operational area of the second accessnetwork.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Examples 23-29 includes, whereinthe device is a mobile computing device, and wherein the servicecoordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) host runninga MEC application providing the V2X application function.

In Example 31, the subject matter of Examples 23-30 includes, whereinthe first and second access networks are 5G wireless networks operatingaccording to a 3GPP standards family.

Example 32 is at least one machine-readable storage medium includinginstructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processingcircuitry of a computing device, cause the processing circuitry toperform operations of any of Examples 23 to 31.

Example 33 is an apparatus comprising means for performing any of themethods of Examples 23 to 31.

Example 34 is a method, performed by a service coordinating entityconnected to an access network, the method comprising: receiving by avehicle-to-everything (V2X) application function of the servicecoordinating entity, an authorization request for a V2X communication,the authorization request received from a mobile computing device viathe first access network; receiving by the V2X application function andvia a V2X application programming interface (API) between the servicecoordinating entity and the first access network, device subscriptioninformation indicating devices authorized to perform the V2Xcommunication within the first access network; performing authorizationof the mobile computing device for the V2X communication based on thedevice subscription information; and based on the performedauthorization, encoding for transmission to the mobile computing device,V2X configuration parameters for establishing a V2X communication linkof the V2X communication.

In Example 35, the subject matter of Example 34 includes, wherein theV2X application function is a mobile edge application running on avirtual machine within the service coordinating entity.

In Example 36, the subject matter of Examples 34-35 includes, whereinthe service coordinating entity is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC)host running a MEC application providing the V2X application function,and the V2X API is a MEC V2X API within a MEC platform of the MEC host.

In Example 37, the subject matter of Examples 34-36 includes, receivingthe authorization request via an Mp1 interface between the V2X API andthe V2X application function.

In Example 38, the subject matter of Examples 34-37 includes, whereinthe first access network is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, andthe method further comprises: receiving the device subscriptioninformation from a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) of theEPC network.

In Example 39, the subject matter of Examples 34-38 includes, whereinthe first access network is a Fifth Generation (5G) network, and themethod further comprises: receiving the device subscription informationfrom a Network Exposure Function (NEF) of the 5G network.

In Example 40, the subject matter of Examples 34-39 includes, whereinthe V2X communication link is a communication link using a PC5interface, and the V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5configuration parameters for the PC5 interface.

In Example 41, the subject matter of Examples 34-40 includes, receivingan indication that the mobile computing device is within a service areaof a second access network, the service area being outside the firstaccess network; and communicating the V2X configuration parameters viathe V2X API to a second service coordinating entity for forwarding tothe mobile computing device via the second access network; wherein thesecond service coordinating entity comprises a second V2X API coupled tothe second access network.

In Example 42, the subject matter of Example 41 includes, wherein theV2X configuration parameters are forwarded to the mobile computingdevice via an SGi interface of the second access network.

In Example 43, the subject matter of Examples 41-42 includes,communicating the V2X configuration parameters to the second servicecoordinating entity via an Mp3 interface.

In Example 44, the subject matter of Examples 41-43 includes, whereinthe first access network is a first public land mobile network (PLMN) ofa first service provider, the second access network is a second PLMN ofa second service provider, and the method further comprises: receivingvia the second V2X API of the second service coordinating entity, V2Xconfiguration parameters associated with the second PLMN; and forwardingthe V2X configuration parameters associated with the second PLMN to asecond mobile computing device that is within the first access network,the forwarded V2X communication parameters for establishing a V2Xcommunication link between the second mobile computing device and atleast another device associated with the second PLMN.

In Example 45, the subject matter of Example 44 includes, generating aset of V2X configuration parameters that is common to the first PLMN andthe second PLMN, based on the received V2X configuration parametersassociated with the second PLMN; and encoding for transmission to themobile computing device, the common set of V2X configuration parametersfor establishing the V2X communication link of the V2X communication.

In Example 46, the subject matter of Examples 44-45 includes, encodingfor transmission to a service management entity, the V2X configurationsparameters associated with the first PLMN; decoding a common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters from the service management entity, the commonset of V2X parameters being common to the first PLMN and the second PLMNand based on the V2X configurations parameters associated with the firstPLMN and the V2X configuration parameters associated with the secondPLMN; and encoding for transmission to the mobile computing device, thecommon set of V2X configuration parameters for establishing the V2Xcommunication link of the V2X communication.

Example 47 is at least one machine-readable storage medium includinginstructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processingcircuitry of a computing device, cause the processing circuity toperform operations of any of Examples 34 to 46.

Example 48 is an apparatus comprising means for performing any of themethods of Examples 34 to 46.

Example 49 is a system, comprising: a user equipment (UE) device,comprising communications circuitry to communicate via an accessnetwork, and processing circuitry configured to: transmit anauthorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication,the request transmitted via the access network; receive V2Xconfiguration parameters for the V2X communication via the accessnetwork, in response to the authorization request; and a Multi-AccessEdge Computing (MEC) entity, comprising communications circuitry tocommunicate via the access network, and processing circuitry configuredto: receive via the access network, the authorization request by a V2Xapplication function of the MEC entity; receive by the V2X applicationfunction and via a V2X application programming interface (API) betweenthe MEC entity and the access network, device subscription informationindicating devices authorized to perform the V2X communication withinthe access network; and transmit the V2X communication parameters viathe access network, based on the device subscription information.

In Example 50, the subject matter of Example 49 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the MEC entity is further configured to: performauthorization of the UE for the V2X communication based on the devicesubscription information; and based on the performed authorization,encode the V2X configuration parameters for transmission to the UE forestablishing a V2X communication link of the V2X communication.

In Example 51, the subject matter of Examples 49-50 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry of the UE is further configured to: decoderadio resource control (RAC) signaling or network access stratum (NAS)signaling including a network address of the MEC entity; and transmitthe authorization request using the network address.

In Example 52, the subject matter of Examples 49-51 includes, a secondMEC entity, the second MEC entity comprising communications circuitry tocommunicate via a second access network, and processing circuitry,wherein the processing circuitry of the MEC entity and the processingcircuitry of the second MEC entity are configured to: exchange V2Xcommunication parameters associated with the access network and thesecond access network; and generate a common set of V2X communicationparameters for use by UEs within the access network and the secondaccess network, based on the exchanged V2X communication parameters.

In Example 53, the subject matter of Example 52 includes, wherein theprocessing circuitry of the MEC entity and the processing circuitry ofthe second MEC entity exchange the V2X communication parameters via awireless interface.

In Example 54, the subject matter of Example 53 includes, wherein thewireless interface is an Mp3 interface.

In Example 55, the subject matter of Examples 52-54 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry of the UE device is configured to: establish aV2X communication link for the V2X communication with a second UE devicebased on the common set of V2X configuration parameters, the second UEassociated with the second access network.

In Example 56, the subject matter of Example 55 includes, wherein theV2X communication link is a communication link using a PC5 interface,and the common set of V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5configuration parameters for the PC5 interface.

In Example 57, the subject matter of Examples 52-56 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry of the MEC entity is further to: receive anindication that the UE is within a service area of the second accessnetwork, the service area being outside the access network; andcommunicate the common set of V2X configuration parameters via the V2XAPI to the second MEC entity for forwarding to the UE via the secondaccess network; wherein the second MEC entity comprises a second V2X APIcoupled to the second access network.

In Example 58, the subject matter of Example 57 includes, wherein thecommon set of V2X configuration parameters are forwarded to the UE viaan SGi interface of the second access network.

In Example 59, the subject matter of Examples 57-58 includes, whereinthe access network is a first public land mobile network (PLMN) of afirst service provider, the second access network is a second PLMN of asecond service provider.

In Example 60, the subject matter of Examples 49-59 includes, a secondMEC entity, the second MEC entity comprising communications circuitry tocommunicate via a second access network, and processing circuitry; and athird MEC entity, the third MEC entity comprising communicationscircuitry to communicate with the first and second MEC entities, and aprocessing circuitry, wherein the processing circuitry of the third MECentity is configured to: receive from the MEC entity, the V2Xcommunication parameters associated with the access network; receivefrom the second MEC entity, V2X communication parameters associated withthe second access network; and generate a common set of V2Xcommunication parameters for configuring one or more V2X communicationlinks within the access network and the second access network.

In Example 61, the subject matter of Example 60 includes, wherein theMEC entity and the second MEC entity are MEC hosts coupled via an Mp3interface, and wherein the third MEC entity is an operator-neutralserver.

In Example 62, the subject matter of Examples 60-61 includes, whereinthe processing circuitry of the third MEC entity is configured to:communicate the common set of V2X communication parameters to the MECentity via the V2X API; and communicate the common set of V2Xcommunication parameters to the second MEC entity via a second V2X APIwithin a MEC platform of the second MEC entity.

In Example 63, the subject matter of Example 62 includes, wherein theV2X application function is running as a first MEC application withinthe MEC entity, and wherein the processing circuitry of the MEC entityis configured to: forward the common set of V2X communication parametersto at least a second MEC application within the MEC entity via the V2XAPI.

In Example 64, the subject matter of Examples 49-63 includes, whereinthe access network is an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, and theprocessing circuitry of the MEC entity is configured to: receive thedevice subscription information from a Service Capability ExposureFunction (SCEF) of the EPC network.

Example 65, the subject matter of Examples 49-64 includes, wherein theaccess network is a Fifth Generation (5G) network, and the processingcircuitry of the MEC entity is configured to: receive the devicesubscription information from a Network Exposure Function (NEF) of the5G network.

Example 66 is at least one non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium including instructions, wherein the instructions, when executedby a processing circuitry of a computing device, cause the processingcircuitry to perform operations comprising: transmitting anauthorization request for a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication toa V2X application function within a service coordinating entity, therequest transmitted via a first access network; receiving V2Xconfiguration parameters from the service coordinating entity, via thefirst access network, wherein the V2X configuration parameters arereceived in response to the authorization request and based on V2Xsubscription information received by the V2X application function via aV2X application programming interface (API) within the servicecoordinating entity; and establishing a V2X communication link for theV2X communication with a second device based on the V2X configurationparameters, the second device associated with a second access network.

In Example 67, the subject matter of Example 66 includes, wherein theinstructions further cause the processing circuitry to performoperations comprising: decoding radio resource control (RRC) signalingor network access stratum (NAS) signaling including a network address ofthe service coordinating entity; and transmitting the authorizationrequest using the network address.

Example 68 is at least one machine-readable medium includinginstructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause theprocessing circuitry to perform operations to implement of any ofExamples 1-67.

Example 69 is a method to implement of any of Examples 1-67.

Example 70 is a network comprising respective devices and devicecommunication mediums for performing any of the operations of Examples 1to 67.

Example 71 is an 4G/5G communications network topology, the networktopology comprising respective communication links adapted to performcommunications for the operations of any of Examples 1 to 67.

Example 72 is an edge cloud computing device implementation comprisingprocessing nodes and computing units adapted for performing any of theoperations of Examples 1 to 67.

Example 73 is an ETSI MEC system implementation comprising devices,processing nodes, and computing units adapted for performing any of theoperations of Examples 1 to 67.

Example 74 is an edge cloud network platform comprising physical andlogical computing resources adapted for performing any of the operationsof Examples 1 to 67.

Example 75 is an apparatus comprising means for performing any of theoperations of Examples 1 to 67.

Example 76 is a system to perform the operations of any of Examples 1 to67.

Although an aspect has been described with reference to specific exampleaspects, it will be evident that various modifications and changes maybe made to these aspects without departing from the broader scope of thepresent disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are tobe regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof show, by way ofillustration, and not of limitation, specific aspects in which thesubject matter may be practiced. The aspects illustrated are describedin sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice theteachings disclosed herein. Other aspects may be utilized and derivedtherefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changesmay be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. ThisDetailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of various aspects is defined only by the appended claims,along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims areentitled.

Such aspects of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein,individually and/or collectively, merely for convenience and withoutintending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to anysingle aspect or inventive concept if more than one is in factdisclosed. Thus, although specific aspects have been illustrated anddescribed herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangementcalculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for thespecific aspects shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and alladaptations or variations of various aspects. Combinations of the aboveaspects, and other aspects not specifically described herein, will beapparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the abovedescription.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in a single aspect for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed aspects require more featuresthan are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the followingclaims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all featuresof a single disclosed aspect. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separate aspect.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device of a service coordinating entity, thedevice comprising: communications circuitry to communicate with a firstaccess network; processing circuitry; and a memory device includinginstructions embodied thereon, wherein the instructions, which whenexecuted by the processing circuitry, configure the processing circuitryto perform operations to: decode a set of vehicle-to-everything (V2X)configuration parameters received from a network node via the firstaccess network, the network node communicatively coupled to the firstaccess network and a second access network, and the set of V2Xconfiguration parameters including a common set of configurationparameters that are common to the first access network and the secondaccess network; decode an authorization request for a V2X communication,the authorization request received by a V2X application function of theservice coordinating entity from a mobile computing device within thefirst access network; receive by the V2X application function and via aV2X application programming interface (API) between the servicecoordinating entity and the first access network, device subscriptioninformation indicating devices authorized to perform the V2Xcommunication within the first access network; perform an authorizationof the mobile computing device for the V2X communication based on thedevice subscription information; and based on the performedauthorization, encode for transmission to the mobile computing device,the common set of configuration parameters for establishing a V2Xcommunication link of the V2X communication between the first accessnetwork and the second access network.
 2. The device of claim 1, whereinthe V2X application function is a mobile edge application running on avirtual machine within the service coordinating entity.
 3. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the service coordinating entity in the first accessnetwork is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) host executing a MECapplication providing the V2X application function, and the V2X API is aMEC V2X API within a MEC platform of the MEC host.
 4. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the first access network and the second access networkare associated with respective first public land mobile network (PLMN)and a second PLMN, and wherein the service coordinating entity isassociated with the first PLMN.
 5. The device of claim 4, wherein theset of V2X configuration parameters are configured by the network nodebased on communication with the service coordinating entity and a secondservice coordinating entity associated with the second PLMN.
 6. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry further performsoperations to: receive the authorization request via an Mp1 interfacebetween the V2X API and the V2X application function.
 7. A method,performed by a service coordinating entity connected to a first accessnetwork, the method comprising: decoding a set of vehicle-to-everything(V2X) configuration parameters received from a network node via thefirst access network, the network node communicatively coupled to thefirst access network and a second access network, and the set of V2Xconfiguration parameters including a common set of configurationparameters that are common to the first access network and the secondaccess network; decoding an authorization request for a V2Xcommunication, the authorization request received by a V2X applicationfunction of the service coordinating entity from a mobile computingdevice within the first access network; receiving by the V2X applicationfunction and via a V2X application programming interface (API) betweenthe service coordinating entity and the first access network, devicesubscription information indicating devices authorized to perform theV2X communication within the first access network; performing anauthorization of the mobile computing device for the V2X communicationbased on the device subscription information; and based on the performedauthorization, encoding for transmission to the mobile computing device,the common set of configuration parameters for establishing a V2Xcommunication link of the V2X communication between the first accessnetwork and the second access network.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinthe V2X application function is a mobile edge application running on avirtual machine within the service coordinating entity.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the service coordinating entity in the first accessnetwork is a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) host executing a MECapplication providing the V2X application function, and the V2X API is aMEC V2X API within a MEC platform of the MEC host.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the first access network and the second access networkare associated with respective first public land mobile network (PLMN)and a second PLMN, and wherein the service coordinating entity isassociated with the first PLMN.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theset of V2X configuration parameters are configured by the network nodebased on communication with the service coordinating entity and a secondservice coordinating entity associated with the second PLMN.
 12. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: receiving the authorizationrequest via an Mp1 interface between the V2X API and the V2X applicationfunction.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein the first access network isan Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, and the method further comprises:receiving the device subscription information from a Service CapabilityExposure Function (SCEF) of the EPC network.
 14. The method of claim 7,wherein the first access network is a Fifth Generation (5G) network, andthe method further comprises: receiving the device subscriptioninformation from a Network Exposure Function (NEF) of the 5G network viathe first access point.
 15. The method of claim 7, wherein the V2Xcommunication link is a communication link using a PC5 interface, andthe V2X configuration parameters comprise PC5 configuration parametersfor the PC5 interface.
 16. The method of claim 7, further comprising:receiving an indication that the mobile computing device is within aservice area of the second access network, the service area beingoutside the first access network; and communicating the V2Xconfiguration parameters via the V2X API to a second servicecoordinating entity for forwarding to the mobile computing device viathe second access network; wherein the second service coordinatingentity comprises a second V2X API coupled to the second access network.17. A device, comprising: communications circuitry to communicate with afirst access network; processing circuitry; and a memory deviceincluding instructions embodied thereon, wherein the instructions, whichwhen executed by the processing circuitry, configure the processingcircuitry to perform operations to: transmit an authorization requestfor a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to a V2X applicationfunction within a service coordinating entity of the first accessnetwork, the request transmitted from the device via the first accessnetwork; receive a common set of V2X configuration parameters from theservice coordinating entity, via the first access network, wherein thecommon set of V2X configuration parameters are received in response tothe authorization request and are based on V2X subscription informationassociated with the device and received by the V2X application functionvia a V2X application programming interface (API) within the servicecoordinating entity, the common set of V2X configuration parametersincluding a common set of configuration parameters that are common tothe first access network and a second access network, and the common setof V2X configuration parameters originating from a network nodecommunicatively coupled to the first access network and the secondaccess network; and establish a V2X communication link for the V2Xcommunication with a second device based on the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters, the second device associated with the secondaccess network.
 18. The device of claim 17, wherein the V2Xcommunication link is a communication link using a PC5 interface, andthe common set of V2X configuration parameters comprises PC5configuration parameters for the PC5 interface.
 19. The device of claim17, the operations further to: receive the common set of V2Xconfiguration parameters subsequent to a verification the device isauthorized to perform the V2X communication, the verification based onthe V2X subscription information received by the V2X applicationfunction via the V2X API.
 20. The device of claim 17, the operationsfurther to: decode radio resource control (RRC) signaling or networkaccess stratum (NAS) signaling including a network address of theservice coordinating entity of the first access network; and transmitthe authorization request using the network address.
 21. The device ofclaim 17, wherein the device is included in a first vehicle movingwithin an operational area of the first access network, and the seconddevice is included in a second vehicle moving within an operational areaof the second access network.
 22. The device of claim 21, wherein thefirst and second access networks are 5G wireless networks operatingaccording to a 3GPP standards family.